Once more unto the breach, dear friends....

(Whispering)...I took Raff to Flyball practice last night.

I made special treats for him (recipe below), and fed him almost no supper before practice (he got maybe 10 kibbles, just so there was something in his bowl while the others ate.)

And at practice, he actually did pretty well. My ability to keep his focus on me is no longer an issue. I can even have him loose, off leash (as long as I'm paying attention to him every second.) So that's huge progress in and of itself!

We had the fencing between the lanes, and during the first round, there was just another green dog in the other lane, and we alternated running them. So he was pretty much running by himself, and he was fine. His turn totally went to hell when he got tired, but he did many (apparently too many) successful full down & backs.

In the second round, a teammate volunteered to have her seasoned dog run in the other lane, opposite Raff. Now THAT was another story. I foolishly started him too far from the box, so the first thing he did was run up to the fencing and start barking at her dog in the other lane. I said his name in the death tone, scooped him up, and took him down to the middle of the lane to try again. More confusion and anarchy, but he did a little better.

Third time, I wised up and took him to right in front of the box (which is what I had TOLD myself I was going to do in the first place, even before we left the house, but I didn't do it when we got there because...I'm a complete idiot?? Yeah, theat must be it.) He was still very distracted by the other little dog, and his turn was utter crap, but he did make it to the box, he did get the ball, and he did bring it back to me. We ran several more times, each time successful (but crappy turn, even w/a box jump), each time backing up a bit further from the box. We got all the way back to the third jump from the box, and my teammate was starting her dog from there, too. So by the time we were done, he was starting with another dog right by his side in the other lane, and he did his job. Woo-hoo!

I've accepted that his turn may just be spotty at best. It could be when he gets used to the distraction of the other dogs (IF he gets used to the distraction of the other dogs), his turn will recover. And I can certainly work on his conditioning more, so getting tired shouldn't be such a factor. And during the week, I'm going to try to have him do a few turns here and there, with the clicker, so I keep reinforcing what is a correct turn. We'll see.

For the moment, I'm going to keep him in Flyball. May doG have mercy on our souls!

RECIPE:

Raffy's Chicken Parmesan Re-Treats

*1 chicken breast, boiled, then pureed in a food processor w/enough broth to make it the
consistency of canned dog food
*2 eggs
*1 t garlic powder
*2 T parmesan cheese
*1 1/2 c whole wheat flour (more, if needed, to make the dough stiff)

Mix together well. Press into greased 9" x 13" pan. Bake at 250 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes. Cut into desired size pieces and refrigerate or freeze.

Flyball Kees

Call me psycho, but I'm taking another run at getting Raff to be a Flyball dog. This has been an on-again/off-again, work in progress since fall of 2005. We've worked through a lot of issues, and when I last had Raffy at practice, he was able to do a full down and back cleanly, as long as no other dogs were around. Not exactly tournament-ready. In the presence of other dogs, he gets distracted and crosses over to the other lane, or chases the dog he's supposed to be passing. I had started working on overcoming those distractions--and was making some good progress--only to see that his box turn was going to hell. At that point, I backed off and pulled him from training...for like, the 5th time in his life...to concentrate on Agility instead.

But I have a dream. There are only 37 Keeshonden to have ever been registered with NAFA. There are currently only 2 Kees active in Flyball. I want Raff to be the third. I think it would say a lot about how wonderful and driven he is, and it would say not-so-bad things about me as a trainer, too. I also would love to be able to bring Raff along with me and Wyatt to tournaments and practices--for a real purpose--because he really can play. (Not that Wyatt would like it so much, but he'd get over it.)


So I'm thinking of taking another run at it. Each time I've tried, and then backed off, I have made better progess than the time before. Maybe I need to give up the "all or nothing" (i.e., complete commitment OR completely quitting), and just look at this as a series of advances...knowing that with each try, I may have to back off and take a breather before making the next run at it. Eventually, with that philosophy, Raffy and I might push over the top!

This run will consist of working in the backyard, starting from one jump only, sending Raff while at the same time adding the distraction of throwing Wyatt and Sheila's balls/Wyatt and Sheila fetching their balls. We've been doing this all week, and this morning Raff actually maintained his focus and successfully completed these short runs 11 out of 12 times. I'm not upping the ante at all this week, except for to move the position of the box to different places in the yard. But no further distance challenge until he's equally successful in all places, and with Wyatt and Sheila running on either side of him...also with no degradation of his box turn.

After that, in each successive week, we'll try adding more distance. Perhaps only one foot at a time, depending on how it goes. When he's doing the full 51 foot distance with success in all criteria, THEN I'll start taking him back to practice...where we'll close the distance to one jump only again, and work our way back to the full course slowly, and only when he's able to be successful with dogs running on either side of him.

After that, we'll work on passing.

Or, somewhere in the process, I'll fizzle out again, and have to wait for the next burst of Flyball Kees Enthusiasm to revive my drive.

Meanwhile, for inspirational purposes, here's a video of one of the Kees currently running in Flyball. He is Casanova, who runs with 2 Lane Highway in MD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KIMnhNormw (his team's run starts at 1:14).

Agile Raff!

Finally, I've competed in an Agility trial with a Keeshond! This is only a dream I've had for, say, 10 years or so. Just a dream come true, that's all. No big whoop.
He did really well. After a shaky start (he ran around the second jump, so I brought him back to try again), he stayed with me remarkably well. He didn't knock any bars, either.


We had to skip the Dog Walk and the A-Frame because we just haven't had enough training time on either of those for me to feel he could accomplish them safely. So our run was just FEO (For Exhibit Only...no scoring), but I was still very pleased to get him out there and see what he could do.

In the pinwheel, I did a rear cross after the first jump. I'm kind of proud of that move because I anticipated (correctly) that he would shoot out ahead of me after that jump, so I could easily cross behind him and then get him back on track with me in time for the second pinwheel jump. It worked! I also knew that I wouldn't be able to get the rear cross in BEFORE the first jump b/c we always end up waaaaay too close together (as you can see in the picture above.)

This is the third to the last jump--he went way out after this jump, ignoring all my cues that he needed to collect and turn right away...but I was able to get him back to me pretty easily, and he didn't take the off-course jump that was right in front of him, so all was well.

We finished our run just fine, thank you very much. And he really enjoyed himself, despite having to wait about 4 hours before being able to run. Unlike Sheila, who got so stressed out, he stayed pretty calm in the car. And I am amazed at how focused he actually was once we got into the ring, especially since he'd never been at this facility before, and had never trialed before...so he really had no idea what to expect. If dogs expect things, that is.

Our next trial is October 5th...CPE Level 1, Standard and Jumpers, NOT FEO. Yee-haw!

Dog Training: My First Lesson in Operant Conditioning

It's 1998, and I'm in my kitchen trying to teach the Down command to my 11 month old Keeshond puppy girl, Peeka. My experience at this point with dog training is typical of most people's: almost non-existent. I teach Sit by pushing the dog's butt down, and then giving a treat when the butt hits the ground. I teach Down first putting the dog in Sit, and then luring them to the ground with a treat. I've only owned dogs for about 9 months, I've only tried to train one other dog, and I've never taught any other commands.

But my method is not working with little Peeka. When I try to lure her into a Down, she puts her nose to the ground to follow the treat, but her butt pops back up in the process. I try another method: pulling her front legs out from under her...but no success there, she only wants to play-bite my hands.

After far too many attempts with both unsuccessful methods, my back hurts from bending over her, and I'm frustrated and sweaty. She's confused, but hopeful (I'm still holding a treat, afterall.) I straighten up to stretch my back muscles into a normal human posture, and then I stand completely still for a moment, just looking at Peeka, just wondering what to do next.

Peeka is looking at me in return. She knows there is still a treat in my hand. She is trying to think of some way to get it from me. She starts with the obvious (to her): she puts her front paws on my belly. But this method is unsuccessful--I merely turn away from her and mumble "off" (a command she does not know). So she tries something else.

Little Peeka, mixing resignation with an invitation to play, splats herself down onto the floor.

But she's a quick little thing, not one to linger. She's up off the floor in a heartbeat. Because I'm still not responding the way she would like, she cycles through those behaviors again...just because it didn't work once, doesn't mean it won't work a second time, dang it! This time when she splats down onto the floor, I notice that she is--for one fleeting fraction of a second--doing exactly what I want. She's in a Down. And then...poof, she's not!

I hold my breath, hoping she does it again. This time I will be ready. I get a Sit. I get jumped on. And then, I get the splat-down! My hand swoops in, depositing the treat into her little pink mouth. Woo-hoo! Let's do that again. Let's do that a few more times. She does! I start saying Down as she's splatting. We're both excited and happy. She smiles and so do I.

Six years later, I will begin to learn about Operant Conditioning, Clicker Training, Shaping, and Positive Reinforcement from some very knowledgable sources. But I'll never forget the day that little Peeka gave me my first lesson.