Sunday, December 28, 2008

More Sessions

#11 has been posted, and #12 will be up tonight -- I promise.

The snow has almost completely melted and the temps are back up, so expect lots more sessions this week!

EDIT: Session #12 is now up. :)

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Status Report

Sessions #8 and #9 have been uploaded and posted here. If you cannot see them yet it is because they are not done processing with YouTube -- check back in about a half-hour. Likewise, if you cannot access the "view in high quality" feature, check back in about an hour or so.

I have changed the dates of my blog posts to reflect the actual dates the sessions took place. This is a little confusing, but will make life easier in the long run especially for people who find this blog when Strata's weave poles are totally trained and want to know how long it took, etc.

There are still 3 more sessions to post and I will try to get to them in the coming days. Unfortunately, training is currently at a standstill as we got about 14" of snow so training outside is not in the cards. We are playing with tricks and collar grabs and other fun behaviors in the meantime.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

I have not forgotten!

Nor have I not been training! (Well, sort of.)

I have several lessons that I need to put up on here. I apologize for the slacking! Things are busy this time of year and I've been giving boyfriend dearest some extra TLC since he just had all 4 wisdom teeth pulled. Yee-ouch.

I've been training, but we have had even more inclement weather. I draw the line at slushy-ice-mud and that's what the yard looks like right now. Tomorrow we are expected to get 9-13" of fluffy white stuff so weave training is on hold, unfortunately. So frustrating! Once the roads clear I may have a shot at going to an indoor facility to train, which would be awesome...

Monday, December 15, 2008

Session 12

Session 11




Notes:
--At this point, I have completely given up on "balancing" the music and the audio from filming. I get it just right on my computer but uploading it to YouTube completely ruins it. I am using the loudest clicker I've got but to no avail. I think it's quite obvious now what I am rewarding and what I am not, plus you can see me throw the reward.
--I definitely need to keep working the "easy" entries with him (straight-on approach) to remind him to dig in and still look for the second set of poles.
--It's tough to see from the video, but the angle of the poles IS getting steeper between sessions #10 and #11 (and again between #11 and #12 which I will try to post ASAP).

Session 10

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Training Withdrawals

So today I didn't get to train Strata on his weave poles. I woke up later than I wanted to, and I got home after dark. For our last session (not up on YouTube/blog yet) I rotated the poles to make it more difficult for him and he continued to nail it. It seems like it should not be this easy! He has never been what I would consider an "easy dog" to shape behaviors like this with, but he caught on so quickly and continues to exceed expectations.

I have tomorrow off and intend to squeeze in at least 3 training sessions. My goal is to get him extremely solid on 4 poles and get them close to the point where they will be in a straight line. Also, with the improvement in weather I can bring the poles to the backyard to try things out in a "new" setting. The front yard is actually tougher and a lot more visually stimulating (cars, pedestrians, etc.) so I am really not concerned about the move. I do have other locations in mind to test him further, but nothing "convienient", so I'll just make do with my yard for now. (Kinda hard to keep trying new locations when you don't drive. Walking with two sets of 2x2s and a springy Sheltie for more than a few yards is impossible!)

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Session 9

Session 8

Session 7

Four poles!



Notes:
--The quality of the video is poor because I had to artifically "lighten" it with WMM. It was nearly dark outside while we were training this (and it was ridiculously cold and windy, for that matter).
--...that's it. I think the captions pretty much speak for themselves! He figures it out pretty quickly, clever boy.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Session 6



--At 1:20 I am really trying to get him to fail by setting up for a tougher entry. I was definitely surprised at how quickly he got it (and that was how I knew it was time to move on to the next step).
--The video actually should end at 2:07 but keeps going forever... and ever... and ever. Trying to fix that. So when it goes blank, don't worry, that's when it ends! :)

Session 5

(This was December 11th, 2008.)



Notes:
--Yes, the fuzzy pink socks I am wearing in this video are just as comfy as you think they are. :)
--I am still experimenting with the audio levels. I am trying to make it possible for you to hear my clicks over the music; I sort of failed at that with this video, but I think its pretty clear what I reward and don't reward. There is a lot of miscellaneous background noise when I film (including my mother leaving my full home phone number on someone's answering machine) so I want to cover that up, but I still want this to be a training video first and foremost!

--REALLY like how he's starting to drive to the poles with a lot of power and speed!
--At 0:51 you can see he's totally "pushing my buttons". He wanted to see if he didn't have to go all the way. Clever sheltie!
--1:55 I start experimenting with moving a little bit while he works.
--At 2:03 I try it again and he stalls out. Then I realize I have not been working him on my right side enough! BAD trainer!
--2:47 he has somewhat of a baby meltdown. "Don't TOUCH ME, I'm a big boy and I want to do it all by myself!" Look at him creep around 2:59, he's so pissed that GOD FORBID I touch him. (btw, that's what he looks like for the first 20 minutes he's on a grooming table. Mr. Melodramatic.)
--At 3:27 he gets over his "OMG don't touch me ever!" attitude and realizes that I'm not beating him, just redirecting him.
--Totally faked me out at 3:58. Silly boy!
--At 4:09 you realize why I was always picked last in gym class.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Session 4



--Train Dan (the cameraman) to keep his damn toe out of the shot! ;)
--I need to get a little more daring working him on the right-hand-side of the camera since he seems to be quite proficient at that.
--Also need to work more distance, as much as my small living room allows.
--Going to *try* to work outside within the next couple of sessions for different footing, but the weather may not cooperate. This carpet does have pretty good traction so I am not super concerned.

Session 3



Notes:
--Switched to easier-to-throw toy.
--Definitely forgot to crate Tessie before the session. Whoops! Fortunately, she'll "go away" if I ask.
--Having trouble with entries on the "thin" slice of the pie (when I am on the left-hand side of the camera). He does end up getting a few. I'm trying to be a good trainer and not move in to help him.
--Probably shouldn't have trained that long, I don't like my sessions to go over 3 minutes. He doesn't show signs of stress at the end, which is nice, but I need to keep an eye on that in the future.
--I should be practicing more collar grabs "on the side", because sometimes he looks very creeped out by me grabbing his collar. We have trained this, but apparently not enough.

Sessions 1 & 2



Notes:
--Should've been throwing the treat in session 1 vs. calling him to me for his snack. He is not very good at finding cookies, so I switched to the toy for session 2.
--Reward line could've been better in session 2 but the limited space makes it a little on the tough side.
--Next session I will work the arc a little more, and then rotate the poles.