Flying Poodles

It’s probably a mistake to say this out loud…

But training is going very well right now. Contacts look good in practice; I’ve added a contact cue for the 2-on-2-off (”yellow”); the teeter looks amazing (Dancer’s wagging her tail while she does the teeter); tunnel/contact discriminations are vastly improved. I’m cautiously optimistic that things will go well at the two trials I have coming up–RAT in Elma and CAT in Ridgefield–the next two weekends. We shall see….

Teeter Training Report…

Yep. Another one.

Debbie and I worked out two more things to add to the teeter training basket. (Summary below.)

Now that Dancer is more comfortable with the tip, we put the teeter against a 24″ table, so that she walked down from the table, tipped the teeter from approximately level, and continued on down. This meant she couldn’t see when it was going to tip. Surprisingly, after a few tries, this didn’t faze her a bit, and by the end of the session–about 10 repeats–she was running to the table, and running right down the teeter.

Debbie suggested that instead of cheerleading her with words, I try clapping. Wow! She likes it when I clap.

Then, over the weekend (at ClickerExpo) Ken Ramirez demonstrated how to make clapping into a conditioned reinforcer by clap-clap-clap/click/treat. I did that a bunch over the weekend, then today I tried clap-clap-clap on the teeter, then click, then treat. Did that a bunch of times.

Oh my! I have a teeter! She runs into it, strides over it as I clap, goes on. I put the teeter into a sequence, and she was unfazed.

So here is the summary. Note that steps are cyclic; I do low and high teeters and easy and difficult steps all the time. I lower the teeter and play the bang it! game with each new teeter.

Click/treat for looking at teeter (reward away from teeter)
C/t for walking toward teeter (reward away)
C/t for putting a paw on teeter (reward away)
C/t for ignoring the bang (at a distance)
C/t for ignoring the bang (moving closer)
C/t for walking over non-moving wedged teeter at lowest setting
C/t for walking over infinitesimally moving teeter at lowest setting
C/t for banging teeter at lowest setting
C/t for banging teeter at higher settings (until she is pulling it down from level with enthusiasm)
C/t for walking over teeter at progressively higher settings (lifted off if she stops moving)
C/t for running to teeter and putting both paws on it
C/t for running to teeter and banging it down
C/t for walking down teeter from table
C/Throw tennis ball for walking across teeter without stopping at lowest setting
C/Throw for more and more speed across teeter without stopping at lowest setting
C/Throw for higher settings and not hesitating

Moment of panic…

I had a moment of horrendous panic today with Dancer… she’s fine now but… quite a story so take a deep breath. She was jumping out of the car, seemed fine, then every time she went to put weight on her back left, it would shoot out behind her (scraping toenails as she went), then she’d sit down and chew her toenails. Then she’d be fine for a bit, until she put full weight on it–and then it would happen again. I called the vet, and took her down there, in a complete panic. She was clearly miserable. We get there, we lay her down on the table, me and the tech hold her, and the vet starts working her way down her leg, hip fine, knee fine, toes chewed on and pink. She shaves the foot, looks at it, can’t see anything. She starts gently pulling each toe to check for sprains, Dancer gives an enormous sigh of relief and relaxes as she gets to the third toe. I say “you fixed it!” The vet tech says “yes, she just relaxed.” The vet says “I didn’t do anything. If it was dislocated it was very subtle.” Dancer hops down off the table, we trot her up and down the hall. No problems at all. She jumps up on my chest, full weight on both back legs. She tells me “let’s get out of here.” We pay $78 and get out of there. (As long as she was there, I had her ears cleaned–otherwise it would have been less.)

Official Results

EAT NADAC Trial January 23, 2010

Elly:

Novice Touch N Go 44.47 seconds, 179 yards
Elite Regular 50.16 seconds, 178 yards, SCT 52.22, 4th place NAS title!

Dancer:

Novice Regular 37.22 seconds, 127 yards, SCT 46.18 seconds, 2nd place
Novice Chances Q (only dog in 20″ or 20+” to Q)

I’ve been working contacts with Dancer a lot, and one thing I’ve been practicing is a leadout to the far side of the A-frame and just calling her to the contact. It comes up a lot, so I thought it would be a good thing to work on. Two hoops in a straight line to the A-frame for the Chances opening! So I led out, called her to the contact, took one step, and sent her to the tunnel on the other side of the line, then called her over the jump, turned her into another tunnel, and there I was, in perfect position to call her over the jump (not the other jump or the tunnel!) and take her down the line for her NINTH Novice Chances Q. One more for her Novice Superior…

In Open Jumpers, we failed to Q when she took an off-course tunnel at the beginning of the run. So I took it as an opportunity to test my training and really try distance and running silent. The rest of the run was a joy, as she flew around the course with NO hesitation or questions. It was better than a Q in some ways, because it gave me such confidence in our training!

I am so proud of Elly!

In the summer of 2004, while Jay was bicycling across the country, I decided to spend some time training in dog agility. I was fortunate enough that the only trainer I could find who had time during that hot August was Pritamo Kentala, who adores poodles and who has a strong grasp of the fundamentals of agility.

I took Elly to her first trial in November of 2005, where she promptly Qd in Novice AKC Jumpers and then didn’t earn another Q for months. Once she cleared Novice, we spent years and years and in Open. When Dancer came along and had teeter issues, and Elly’s hip dysplasia and IBD caused her issues, we started spending more time in NADAC. Elly got her first NADAC titles in June of 2006 (Novice Regular Agility and Novice Chances), her Open Regular Agility in January of 2008, and…

TODAY she got her Elite Regular Agility (Skilled (16″)) title.

AND her first Novice Touch-and-Go Q ever. (Contacts have always been an issue!)

The demon poodle does the chute

Elly flies out of the chute: photo by Nina Sage

24″ weaves

The most recent AKC trial had 24″ weaves, and for the first time, I saw Dancer do single-step weaves. Proof:

Dancer swims through the weaves: photo by Nina Sage

I know this is boring, but I am excited!

Okay. More teeter training today. I’m sure you’re surprised.

Dancer was VERY revved up today, very excited about training, very high energy. I did some teeters and she was almost as good as the last one on Monday–and then I did some sequences, and she was just flying.

And then I did a sequence where the last obstacle was the teeter, and she hit the teeter galloping, and I held my breath as she flew up it. It started to tip, and I had a moment to think “oh shit, she’s going to fly right off the end and we’ll be back to square negative one again” and then she jumped gracefully off the side. I told her what a smart dog she was and brought her around to the teeter again and she went right over it, in sensible poodle style, without even hesitating.

We did a few more sequences, and then I put the treats in my pockets, and for the first time I asked her to do the teeter without the treats being right there in my hand and ready. She trotted right over and stopped in a perfect two-on-two-off contact. I emptied my pockets of every treat I had.

Of course.

Dog genetics

There’s a lot of research these days into dog genetics. This article Scientists find a shared gene in dogs with a compulsive disorder reports on a study of obsessive behavior in Dobermans. Researchers found a common gene shared by the dogs who showed OCD; the “normal” dogs didn’t have the gene.

More information

I’ve been doing, as you all know, lots and lots and lots of teeter training. Yesterday at the barn I was demonstrating how good Dancer is at the “bang it!” game. Then I started doing some sequences… then I did some fast sequences into the teeter. And damned if I didn’t get one great teeter. Now, we’re not talking border-collie-slide teeter, we’re talking sensible poodle teeter: trot up quickly, push down, move along. And that’s exactly what I got. No “oh no” pause!