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Nike's Training Journal

On The Road Training Session Log

Was hoping to use the tennis courts but they’ve locked them for the winter. They were very icy anyways. So eneded up in the parking lot behind the city hall. It’s pretty safe and not busy at all.

Worked on L1 Down, Sit, Zen and Touch and on L2 Leash manner (in one spot) and LLW.

For Leash Manner in one spot I was really going for simple eye contact in order to get her attention in a strange environment. She was on leash for safety reasons so it did end up being a L2 Leash. A couple of people walked by us and she was very good. She did walk to the end of the leash towards the first man, but not the second one.

SHe was very good on all L1 behaviours.

not so good was that she cried in her crate the whole time I was working with Griffin. I’ll tell more on crate training in a separate entry of her journal.. . . Have found a big hole in her training but we’re working on it. It had to do more with "Training Zen" than with the crate!

Behavior	Level	Uncued Reps	Cued Reps	Cued Errors	Success Rate	Duration	Distance
Down	3	0	10	4	60%
Leash Manners	5	10	0	0
Sit	3	0	10	2	80%
Target	3	0	5	0	100%
Zen	3	0	5	0	100%

Training Session Log

Several short sessions in different rooms of the house (basement, grooming shop, living room)

Still working on the Down Stay and keeping the rhythm and enthusiasm up with some action behaviours.

Made some more progress on the Down Stay. Instead of stepping forward and stepping back I now step forward (up to 5 steps), turn around, face her, return and pivot back! It’S the whole exercise except I need to increase distance. This is so great. . . We had been struggling so much trying to increase time first instead of distance. Sometimes you just have to try something different.

Nike has caught on the Contact concept so quickly. It was fun fun fun.

Still haven’t decided on the final behaviour for the shaped Trick. I’ve shaped jumping on the box (all feet on) and once on, she’s been clicked for pawing at it, nosing it, lying down, sitting, standing with her front paws on the edge. . . I’ll have to pick something soon and shape that.

Behavior	Level	Uncued Reps	Cued Reps	Cued Errors	Success Rate	Duration	Distance
Contacts	3	15	0	0
Crate	4	4	0	0
Distance	4	0	10	2	80%		6.0 ft
Down Stay	2	20	0	0			5.0 ft
Go To Mat	3	0	10	0	100%	10s	5.0 ft
Trick	3	10	0	0

Test Log

Well look at this!
Nike passed L3 Zen with no trouble whatsoever and little training (only duration) where Griffin still gets way too excited and has a hard time going for the whole 20 seconds on his first try. He does eventually on his 2nd or third try but needs reminders first.

Behavior	Level	Total Reps	Errors	Success Rate	Passed
Zen	3	2	0	100%	Yes

Training Session Log

So we’ve been working on the Down Stay. I swear this dog is mounted on springs! To tell the truth I was pretty convinced I would never see any breakthrough on the stays with Nike. I have never had this much trouble teaching it to any of my dogs.

Anyhow. . . building up duration while I was in front of her just led to pure frustration no matter how small I started, how slow I increased the time, or how many times I started again at the beginning. Nike just got very frustrated. . . and so did I in the end.

So it was time to try something different. I sat on the floor with treats and all the dogs. I asked for a Down and got it from all the dogs (except Rosa but it’s okay she gets treats for just helping out LOL.)

I rewarded all dogs starting with Nike. If she got up while I was rewarding the other ones I waited her out until she downed on her own (no cues) before distributing treats again. Once she didn’t get up so much (Sue’s theory of Laziness!!!) I started treating one dog first, then her (increasing time) then two dogs and her, then three dogs and her, then having to pass in front of her nose with the treat to give it to Kali (tougher distraction) until she was solid. Then I got up and started again while I was standing.

Of course this was over several days/sessions. . . once she was solid I put the other dogs away and started not with duration but with me moving away from her. First I started with staying in place and moving one foot forward and back C/T, then the other foot C/T, then one foot then the other foot C/T, then taking one step AWAY from her and stepping back C/T.

. .. we’re up to FIVE steps away and back!

This morning I didn’t feel like putting the other dogs away so I asked Griffin to Go to Mat, put Kali on the Down Stay and let Rosa be my wagging tail ghost . I set Nike facing Griffin about 5’ away(he’s on the Mat) so I could walk away from her, reward Griffin and walk back to her before C/T.

Nice job. I can see how hard she’s thinking about this and how much self control it takes her to not spring up!

We’ll get there. I know it seems like there’s a lot of distractions and usually I would not start with so much but it really seems to help her. Now that she seems to have grabbed the concept I’ll be just alternating sessions with and without the rest of the gang from now on.

I’M pretty happy about this!

Behavior	Level	Uncued Reps	Cued Reps	Cued Errors	Success Rate	Duration	Distance
Contacts	3	15	0	0
Down Stay	2	20	0	0			5.0 ft

Training Session Log

Continued on after testing DOwn and Scenting. I’ve now added some movements on my part for the "Stay". There is improvement on these but it’s really slooooow.

Go To Mat – All we need is adding duration up to one minute.

Behavior	Level	Uncued Reps	Cued Reps	Cued Errors	Success Rate	Duration	Distance
Go To Mat	3	0	10	1	90%	10s
Sit Stay	2	15	0	0			2.0 ft

Test Log

I have not logged in recently but we have been working on and off more often than not taking advantages of everyday situations to practice this or that. It paid off specialy for Nike’s down.

Scenting was an easy pass. I had started on it a couple of days ago as a fun action behaviours to do between the dreaded "stays"!

Stand – After being at the shows and doing a lot of stacking. Standing on one cue was an easy one to pass.

Behavior	Level	Total Reps	Errors	Success Rate	Passed
Down	2	2	0	100%	Yes
Scenting	3	2	0	100%	Yes
Stand	3	2	0	100%	Yes

Training Session Log

Have started on L3 shaped Trick and it went great. I love shaping! We worked from glancing at a box to nosing it, pawing at it, putting one paw on it, putting two paws on it, to finally jumping on it. I would now like her to turn and face me once she’s on it and to finally sit on top of the box or to stand/stack with her front feet right at the edge of the box. . . will decide later which it will be.

Zen – worked with her and Griffin to increase time.

Crate – Have found a hole. She can stay in her crate for hours without making a noise if it’s in the van or at the shows, but at home when I’m just next by working or training another dog she whines. She also does it if I walk out of the room . . . Bummer
So have been rewarding being quiet while I train Griffin or groom dogs, starting with very short periods between rewards and increasing gradually. I just have to put my mind to it. . it’s something I often just don’t think of doing.

Behavior	Level	Uncued Reps	Cued Reps	Cued Errors	Success Rate	Duration	Distance
Crate	4	5	0	0
Stand	3	0	10	0	100%
Trick	3	30	0	0
Zen	3	0	10	0	100%	30s

Training Session Log

Two short training sessions working on Down from a sit and Down Stay lying down at my side and in front of me. I am not about to move away from her! But she’s improved greatly on just staying there without fidgeting or making any little noises. We went up to 10 seconds with her at my side and 15 seconds with her in front. Will start adding movement (me) and/or distance once she reached 30 seconds of a solid stay.

Good session

Behavior	Level	Uncued Reps	Cued Reps	Cued Errors	Success Rate	Duration	Distance
Down	2	0	10	1	90%
Down Stay	2	0	30	2	93%	15s

Test Log

L3 Target – A couple of days back I retrieved the Easy Button from the drawer where it’s been for a while and decided to give it a try with Nike since she was hitting a target the size of a paper book pretty consistently. It was a success right away. I simply needed to add some distance and she needed to learned that just touching it was not enough, she had to hit it hard enough (she’s soooo small!) in order to make it "speak". That became my final criteria.

She passed the test this morning with success. She’s shown wonderful understanding of my criteria when she hit the button and turned back to come back for her reward but stop midway when she realized she was not hearing "That was Easy", turned around on her own and went back to hit it again hard enough this time,

Smart girl!

Behavior	Level	Total Reps	Errors	Success Rate	Passed
Target	3	10	0	100%	Yes