Netta's Conformation Photos, Session 1

For the first attempt, I was too busy juggling the leash, the dog, and the treats to really get a good stance. The best part about this photo is that Netta's head is mostly pointed forward.



On the second try, I got Netta into a better stance and hubby figured out the zoom lens. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that Netta's head was turned too far back towards me, mostly obscuring her face with her ears.



Considering that this was the first time I was trying to get Netta to stand in one place, I think things went fairly well. She was confident and under control, so it will just be a matter of teaching her what I really want in the exercise.

Conformation Photos, Take 1

Today the stars aligned, my husband was available to take pictures, and I remembered to ask him, so I attempted to take conformation photos of all the dogs. I handled the dogs, he handled the camera. The results were less than stellar, but at least now I know what to work on with each dog. Photos to follow in individual posts for each dog.

Busy Busy

I had family visit last weekend, so between preparing for that and then recovering afterward, I haven't done much training. There certainly wasn't time to work on loose leash walking, but I did work in some clicker training during feeding time.

It just takes a few minutes per dog to use part of a meal as rewards for clicker training. It adds up pretty quickly, especially if you do it every day.

I've been working on the down with all of the dogs. With Lily, I had already captured the behavior previously (taking her into a small room, letting her get bored, and clicking any time she lay down). It's now one of the behaviors she tries when trying to figure out what will get a click. Now I'm working on attaching the cue "down" to the behavior.

Since Netta hadn't already learned that lying down was a behavior that could get her a click, I used luring to teach it to her. I held a treat over her head until she sat, and then moved it towards the ground to encourage her to lie down. Well, that's how it's supposed to work, but I've never had a dog actually lie down on the first try. Instead, I used shaping in addition to luring. So, at first, all she had to do was tilt her head down a bit when the treat went by, and I clicked her for it. I gradually required more and more movement, until finally she was lying down every time I put my hand on the ground. I got this far in a single lesson that was less than five minutes long. Now I'm working on fading the hand signal, with the eventual goal that she'll lie down with just a small gesture. After that, I'll add the verbal cue.

One really nice result of this training is that when I go out to visit Netta, often she will lie down instead of jumping all over me. I make sure to always give her extra attention if she sits or lies down, and ignore her if she jumps up.

Bibb is less food motivated than the girls, but he loves petting even more than Netta, if that's possible. So he gets pets as well as food as a reward. I did the luring and shaping the down with him, too, although in his case it only took a couple of repetitions before he was throwing himself to the ground before I could even start to lure. He's a very quick study, and the easiest dog I've ever worked with.

Ovals Not Enough

Lily is far more intense than the other dogs, and she has many years of practicing bad habits on leash, so I expected the circuit work to go slower with her. We've been working on it for about two weeks, and it really hasn't done much to calm her. She has a very tough neck, and hardly seems to notice that the leash is tight most of the time. I noticed today that she always forged ahead at the same place on the oval, despite walking mostly on a loose leash for the rest of it. That's when I realized that she's merely practicing bad habits on the oval, and if I keep doing everything the same she's not going to get any better. So I switched to figure-eights, still in the same area. I focused on walking my pattern, not on Lily, so I tripped over her a few times. It didn't take long for her to be paying more attention to me than she ever has. Even when I went back to the oval pattern for a few rounds, she stayed intent on staying by my side. I stopped after a few rounds, because I wanted to end on a high note.

In hindsight, I should have figured this out earlier. She's a herding breed, and needs far more to keep her mind occupied than most dogs. I'll keep doing interesting patterns for the next several training sessions, and see how that translates into general loose leash walking for her.

First Real Walk

Today Bibb was doing so well on his circuits that I decided to take him up the street for some more practice with loose leash walking. He is very sensitive to leash pressure, and many times he corrected himself when got too far ahead. We had a very pleasant walk, interspersed with practice sitting.

Kay Laurence: Walk Together, Learn Together DVD

This DVD was discussed on a clicker training email list that I subscribe to. The system is supposed to calm down excited dogs by walking in an oval repeatedly. After several times around, the dog begins to focus on the handler instead of all the distractions.

Unfortunately, my library does not have this DVD (nor any of Kay Laurence's books), so for now I'll have to rely on the description in the emails. What I've been doing is I start with an oval at the bottom of the yard. Once the dog is paying attention to me, I turn down the alley (where there are lots of scent distractions). As long as the dog keeps the leash loose, we keep walking. I have enough slack in the leash that the dog can sniff as long as he is right next to me. The moment the leash tightens, I immediately turn back into a new circuit (or if I'm close enough, I'll return to the old one). I figure that a half hour walk is a half hour walk, whether we spend the time completely in the backyard or we walk halfway across town.

This has actually been working quite well, and it's very relaxing to just focus on walking a circuit. I get into a meditative state of mind, and after a while it seems that the dog does, too. I definitely want to buy the DVD when I get the chance.

Spaying

I took Netta in to be spayed today, and she also got her shots and a microchip. It's been nearly a month since I found her, and nobody responded to the posters I put up, so at this point I consider her to be my dog. We just need to get her county license now, and then she'll be set. She came through surgery beautifully, and hardly seems drugged at all. It's such a relief not to have an intact female around anymore.