Reviewing Small Spaces

In our "real life", Lily's and mine, we spend a lot of time waiting.  Much of that time, Lily is navigating small spaces tucked under or beside or under my legs.

Because this summer we are going to Ladder Distractions, I am using training time at home tightening up weak spots.  For Lily that will primarily mean strengthening her tucking into "Side" positions.

Of course, there are public bathrooms of every size and description.  At home, in training, I am willing to ask her to lie down in the small space beside the commode and the wall.  In public restrooms, I have her remain standing.

Need practice on Right Side.  Even though the right side was the same size space as the left side, the left side also had the toilet tissue.  Nevertheless, "Side" was problematic for Lily.

Between my chair and an obstacle, on my Left Side...."Tuck".  Lily responds well to the "Back" cue if I want to tuck her in tighter.  The workhorse Go to Mat behavior ("Go Lie Down") easily directs Lily to crawl under the chair, even one with a white skirt.

Same exercise on my Right Side....."Side".  Again, Lily understands but the right side is definitely her weaker side.  No problem going under the chair from the right side.

Another option I use while Lily and I are waiting is placing her under my feet perpendicular to the chair and under my legs.  This is probably Lily's favorite position.

Depending upon the layout, often I ask Lily to back into my chair space or to back into an empty space to my left or my right.  Here another trainer is reminding Lily that she can do the behavior for someone else!

This is the small corner I use for simulating the small space at my feet for public transportation.  It is slightly smaller than the under seat dimension window seat on most airplanes.  (Website for underseat dimensions depending upon airliner size).  Bus seating varies, but this is close.

On the rare occasions that I eat at my dining room table, Lily lies beneath the table during the meal.

In all instances, I have trained Lily to remain in her position until I cue her to stand.  As I incorporate her mobility assistance bracing more and more that will have to change, but I don't anticipate a problem.

Hula Hoops

Hula Hoops come in two standard sizes.  I used the small hula hoop to show the relative size of each space where Lily makes herself smaller and unobtrusive in public.

The White Chairs

The Corner

(not enough space for the hoop to lie flat)

Under the Dining Room Table

Dog Beds

Lily's favorite dog bed is her puppy bed.  I got it out again when Andre came to visit and Lily greeted it like a long lost friend.  What good training for curling up as small as her 74# and lanky Weimaraner frame will let her get!  Duration in this bed doesn't seem to be a problem for her at all and she often seeks it out.

Day 1: Training Seizure Alert Behavior

We began Steps 1, 2 and 3 this morning.  In the loo.  And, no, we did not Flip it.

However, we did Flip Target Level 1 Step 4 Comeafter.  Lily has experience gently taking clothing in her mouth and pulling on it strongly enough to remove it.


Comebefore:  Target Level 1 Step 4 Comeafter

Step 3:  

As is commonplace for Lily when doing something new, she is not drooling, but her salivary glands are working overtime.  Next, however, I am going to train this while wearing t-shirts.  I want her to be careful to not let her teeth touch my skin from the very beginning.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Let's hear it for Comebefores!

Comeafters:

Left Side: t-shirt

I changed from the tied sweatshirt into a t-shirt.  "Whenever you change something about a behavior, make everything else easier" ...  so I begin at the beginning.  Lily is still on my left side but, shame on me, not only did I change my shirt, I also changed my position on the stool

Right Side:

This session I want Lily to do the behavior on my right side.  It took me a while to get myself coordinated with my treats, clicker and positioning and Lily suffered because of it.  "Don't start training until you are ready."   Once I got my act together, it was remarkable how quickly she generalized the behavior.

Left Side/ Right Side:


And we come face to face with the teeth issue.  It's important that Lily understand the limits from the very beginning.

Still too early to add a cue.  Which is a good thing, because I haven't decided what the temporary cue is going to be.  It's also a good thing not to have selected a cue yet because I would be sorely tempted to introduce it before I have the behavior just the way I want it.

Right Side

While shopping at the Commissary today, I had Lily working on my right side.  That rarely happens at the Commissary and, again, it needs more training.  It can and should be a less stressful position.

What Right Side does when pushing a shopping cart - it keeps Lily between me and the oncoming traffic....usually.  And she maintained a "next to me" position much more easily.  But she clearly felt that she belonged on my left side and kept dropping behind me, waiting for the Change cue to return to the left.  I would like Right Side to become Lily's "default" shopping position.  For a while, at least.

Lily is great in the Commissary and in stores.  She waits quietly and with duration, with her leash draped across her back, when I leave her to go and take something off of a shelf or behind a door in the freezer section.  With Touch she is easily positioned parallel with the front of the cart or down beside it.

She ignores other shoppers, even children.  I try to always protect her from children by placing her between the cart and them.  She sits patiently while I unload the grocery cart.  Her only "hole" is the temptation to sniff the floor on occasion.  What she finds to sniff on the highly polished Commissary floor is beyond me.  And, because it is so clean and shiny, there is nothing to alert me to a tempting floor scent.

More on this later.

Bathrobe Training

Yesterday Cathy and I were working on on and off leash walking, asking for Sits and Downs in position.  What interesting things we discovered!  Lily forgot that she knew how to Down; Rooster did beautiful Downs, but consistently moved out of position to do his Sits.

Then we changed dogs and included the Tuck/Heel cue, since both dogs know the Swing Finish.  This morning, while Shayla was eating her breakfast, I used the time to Flip Lily doing some variations on the basic Swing Finish.

In this first video I can see the importance of treat delivery.  I am delivering the treat with my right hand, which pulls Lily's head to the right and her rear to the left, out of alignment.

Here I am incorporating both side movement and back movement in the Tuck cue.

Thirdly, the Side.  We don't practice (or use) Right Side nearly as often as we do Tuck.  It shows.

At one point in time, I began teaching Lily to Tuck while in the Down position.  Sue advised cueing Down/ Tuck        Down/Tuck.  I am going to go back to working on this to keep her in position while walking.

Also, re-teaching both the Sit and the Down (on both sides) without the cue until I get exactly the behavior I want.

Training Parallel Parking