first steps of a long journey

 Blizzard conditions (a slight exaggeration) started late this afternoon… the laneway, which was clear of snow, is now a whiteout. But think! We are nearing the end so I’ll try to keep that in mind as I stare at the swirling snow.

Meanwhile, for the last few weeks I’ve been gorging on dog training videos… some if it is ‘do this then do that’ but by far the most content is about the theory of learning and training. The why and how is slowly settling into my brain. At the beginning of the program I thought the exercises were so simple and easy, but as the weeks have gone by I have a new appreciation for WHAT is being taught by those simple skills.

Let’s start with the first game: ‘search’. It seems that I am basically just throwing food on the floor, but wait! It’s actually building a release word which will eventually bring clarity to the dog about when to stop doing something. It also tells the dog that they can eat something off the floor. And it’s not just throwing it - it’s important that you add the word, pause, and then throw… it’s all in the science of learning. From there we build the ‘break’ cue which just releases the dog from a behaviour that I’ve asked them to do, like a sit. 

Think of Pavlov’s dog - ring the bell, pause, give food… after a few reps the dogs salivate. What happens if you reverse it: give food, pause, ring the bell? Nothing. Or nothing that you want anyway. It works this way for every fish, bird, dog, person. I’m learning how to use this conditioning to train other behaviours. 

I’ve got a lot to learn and a long way to go, but what fun to be learning new things!

I’ve come to understand that one of the biggest holes in my training in the past is a lack of clarity for many cues. When I ask them to ‘sit’, what exactly does that look like and when does it end? How were they supposed to know and be sure(!) when they can move? When can they dive into their dinner bowl, when can they go out the door, when when when… Lupa has the release cues reasonably certain in her head but Adia has a ways to go. When I started this program I didn’t understand the importance of this and skimmed over some steps. I know I should go back to the basics with Adia but my old ‘lets get results’ habit stops me.

It all appeals to the geek in me! 

On top of the training videos I’ve been watching, I’m also deep into an eye opening book about mindset. I can see where I’ve had a fixed mindset for some things while I have a growth mindset for others. How can I grow that good mindset into the areas that are more problematic? For example, there have been times in the past that I’ve given up on doing things (that I love) because I’m not a ‘natural’... a fixed mindset. In fact, it’s been a bit of a struggle these last few weeks throwing away what I know (and what I thought I was good at), to embrace new ideas - to start back in kindergarten with my dogs.

I’ve been having trouble with motivation lately which I’ve attributed to the season and my historical mood issues, but could it really be that I am no longer an ‘expert’ and so my confidence is shaken? I’m trying to switch my mindset to be more towards growth and to embrace learning but it’s not easy!

Luckily the dogs aren’t going through this angst and instead come to each training session excited and ready to play. It seems that they are starting to be faster learners, which is either because they are learning how to learn or maybe I’ve gotten a little better with my mechanics ;-)

It is strongly encouraged to video our training sessions which at the beginning I only video’d once we were good (or better than at the beginning) but I’m finally figuring out that watching the ‘in progress’ videos where we are struggling is actually very helpful (well, duh)!

I’m excited for it all to come together.

Awesome!

“dogs running fast down the hall”

“the dog joy about training time - who knew that a brick could be so exciting”

robin red breast

 A robin repeatedly threw itself against our bedroom window this afternoon - the first of the year! In retrospect it was probably there this morning as some bird was persistent in it’s attack of our window… usually it’s the cardinal.

Stepping outside, the sound of red-wing blackbirds filled the air!

It was actually a lovely day today with strong sun and not too much wind. Hope is in the air! or Spring!

Awesome!

“a bit of sun in the sky”

“summer birds!”

No spring in sight

Overnight, freezing rain glazed the trees, the droplets of water hanging in suspended animation, and now the ice is being dissolved by a downpour of cold rain. It’s hovering around the freezing mark - danger range! Poor Adia wouldn’t leave the overhang of the garage this morning so is splitting a gut inside at the moment…

When is spring going to actually arrive?

The day passed quickly with dog games and a bit (a lot) of mooching around the house - safely inside away from the rain. I was watching some video about getting your dog to chill in the house and thought back to a year ago when I was nearly at my wits end with Lupa. These days if she’s not playing with a toy or Adia, she’s usually curled up against me sleeping, or laid back in my arms like a baby. No more exhausted puppy owner wondering what I’d gotten myself into 😍 No, none of that! She’s turned into a pretty good dog (for most things… we do have multiple ‘opportunities’ with her!)

Awesome!

“being snug in the house with nowhere to go on a freezing rain morning”

“dogs racing down the hall during our recall game"

okay then

I usually like to start my post with a great sentence but today I’m drawing a blank! I could start with the weather like I often do or get right into it with tales of the tail… I’ll start with the weather!

Mid March has arrived, along with SPRING! Ha ha! Today is a mixture of sun and cloud with a cold wind which isn’t exactly springlike on the surface, but if I look closer, I can see the snow starting to become granular (so many yellow snowcones!) and the snowbanks have shrunk by a few feet. Like what I’m learning about dog training, I have to pay attention to the small details to get a better bigger picture. So yes! Spring!

In that vein, I saw a memory on FB of ‘this day’ in 2012 when it was 25C! We were out for lunch on a patio in the market with Bruce and Tina - we had to ask to be moved to a table in the shade as we got too hot!

I’m still in the thick of dog training… I’ve gone from confident to overwhelmed to feeling like I don’t know anything and back to a shaky confidence. I think the dogs are going through the same thing as I figure out this new way of training. Old dogs (me) have a bit of trouble learning new tricks! I’m getting better at record keeping and making a plan although it’s definitely a work in progress!

I’ve not been helped by the state of my mind… I may celebrate spring on one level, but I have a long history of a few weeks of mental discombobulation in March and April which makes the transition a bit rocky. Not only does my brain slow down but it misbehaves in other ways, often inserting negative thoughts where there should be none. As I wake up, these unproductive thoughts swirl around in my brain - it takes a concerted effort all day to get them in control… sometimes I give myself permission to lay a bit low and maybe not accomplish as much - I think that helps to a degree but isn’t the best way to move forward!

I know the drill so don’t get too upset about it - I’ve been through it enough to know it’s temporary… 🤪

Putting down the training layers has been fun and a bit frustrating. The two dogs are so different to train! Lupa is a speed demon while in comparison Adia seems as slow as molasses. Adia has 4 years of old habits that I trained her to do which are slightly incompatible with our new games. Her default behaviour if she is uncertain is to either sit or lie down and she gets stuck there sometimes. Lupa doesn’t have such a long history so she’s able to figure new things out more quickly. I have to be super quick with the clicker to catch the right behaviours. It’s coming though.

Here’s a video of Lupa today learning to jump from bed to bed. It’s our second day of using a cue to get in and out of the bed. Lupa Hot Zone Game

One thing that I’ve learned that was lacking with my ‘old’ training is that I had no cue to say ‘the behaviour is over so you can stop doing it’. This cue adds so much clarity for the dog! When I ask you to sit, stay sitting until I say otherwise… and remember to say it! So no ‘sit, stay’, just ‘sit’ and an implied stay until I say either ‘search’ (to find food that I’ve thrown on the floor), ‘break’, ‘out’ (run out the door and play), ‘get it’ (attack the toy that I’m waving in your face)... we are still working on these cues! I sort of used ‘okay’ but gosh, I say that all the time! So much confusion for us all!

Remember! OKAY is not okay!

I’m also in the thick of a book called ‘Mindset’ which is an interesting read about… you guessed it - mindset! It’s really interesting and worth the $ download. 

With all this fun the days zoom by and before I know it another week has passed.

Awesome!

“I know there were awesome things but I can’t think of even one!”

“a whole page of training notes”

“progress”

“yellow snowcones are a sign of spring”

“starting to think about the camper - it’s still under a lot of snow though”

“Remember that failure is an event, not a person” - Zig Ziggler 

a week of games

 Ok… the time vortex has struck again - where has the week gone?! It seems that I have well and truly settled into winter mode where each day is the same and morphs into the next with hardly a blip.

I’ve spent the biggest part of the week playing around with my database software and playing with the dogs - I think I have my data elements (!) and tables well arranged for my dog training log (why do I make things so complicated?). It’s not perfect and there are some frustrations with getting things to work smoothly as the software is not a fully functional database but is a pretty good approximation… if only there wasn’t some sort of reporting app to top it all off! But I digress…

So why the focus on record keeping? The training program that I’ve joined is big on keeping notes and also taking video - I wanted a way to keep everything together and organized in a way that makes it easy to review our progress. 

I am impressed with the program so far. It releases a few skills every week with tons of supporting materials… in fact it’s too easy to ‘go down the rabbit hole’ and delve into the reams of content. It can be overwhelming! Of course I’m a big cheater and have jumped to a few more advanced skills ;-) which may or may not be muddying the waters! The dogs aren’t complaining though - I can’t even go near the training stuff without both dogs running over. 

Aside from that it’s been slightly quiet… we had friends over on Friday night and supper at Trudie & Leo’s on Sunday. I made another batch of focaccia which was fun - there are leftovers in the freezer to have for supper tonight with Pat.

Update on the new mattress and pillow! An easy 5/5 stars for both :-)

Awesome!

“loving my new pillow - no days of trying to get used to it, it was awesome right away! Kind of like love at first sight”

“sunny Saturday mornings”

“snowbanks receding”

let the games begin

 I’m trapped in some sort of time anomaly that is hurtling me into the future faster than can be imagined… It seems that it was just yesterday that I last wrote but no, it was last Tuesday! Over a week has passed without me even noticing…

It’s been slightly busy but not really… last Wednesday night Trudie & Leo came for supper for some caramelised onion & mushroom beef stew and then Pat came Friday night for leftover beef stew. One night I used Costco’s butter chicken sauce on some chickpeas and at the last minute decided to make naan. Well, there was no time for a yeast bread so I found a recipe without yeast. It was okay (we rated it a ⅗) but fast and last minute… yesterday I made naan with yeast. It was excellent (at least the ones that I didn’t roll too thinly) and was an easy 5/5 - a definite make again recipe.

Thursday was a beautiful day for a drive and since we’ve been procrastinating on looking at new mattresses we made the trip into the city for a looky loo. It didn’t take too long to decide on a hybrid mattress and I ordered a $$ pillow… It all arrived this morning (Wed)! Fingers crossed for a good night’s sleep!

Spring has been teasing us with bright sunshine and warm temps some days but then nature slaps us in the face with a cold wind to remind us that it’s still the beginning of March. One day we were out on the snowshoes with just a long-sleeve t-shirt, leggings, and a down vest - it wasn’t long before my vest was fully unzipped and my mittens were in my pocket :-) It was glorious! The last few days were more typical March days - cold in the shade with glimpses of warm sunshine to lift our spirits.

Tuesday I made the commitment to a 4 month online dog training course by Susan Garrett (dogsthat.com). The materials are well laid out and seem to progress step by step with an overwhelming amount of supporting information in the form of youtube videos, podcasts, blog entries, and numerous pdf downloads. There are over 200 podcasts full of information. It’s not just a ‘do this then do that’ course, but spends a lot of time on the theory. 

The course is built on ‘games’ that use both classic conditioning and operant conditioning to help the dog learn. They are designed to build confidence and joy in both the dog and the trainer. I’ve been putting some of what I’ve learned into practice during the past week and it’s been going very well.

A well laid out plan should get us to point ‘b’ a lot faster than going hither and thither.

For fun (before I signed up for the proper course) we played with ‘perch’ on a brick with front feet… we muddled around for a day or two - today she was pretty consistently putting her front feet up… if I was standing exactly in front of the brick… if I moved to the side it all fell apart. So I inched my way around till she was beside me… it’s still a work in progress but every day I see progress. What is the point you ask? Well, it will eventually build value for being at my side which will help with loose-leash walking.

Three years ago I taught Adia to put her front feet onto an overturned dish using free-shaping but it was so long ago, and we hadn’t perfected it, but gosh! She remembered almost right away about putting her feet up even though I’d switched out the dish for a brick! I’ve always found that shaping a behaviour helps the animal to really learn and understand what is being asked.

It’s fun to see the learning process. Both dogs quickly understood that putting their feet on the brick got the reward but then since we were training in an area that I often ask for ‘down’ they’d sometimes lie down with feet on the brick… both dogs did the same thing… it was pretty obvious that they’d been rewarded for a down often. I had to get really quick with the clicker to mark when they were still standing up. 

I may just drag out the ancient carpet that used to be under the sofas to make another non-slip ‘island’ to play on. It will be ugly but what the heck ;-)

—-----------

Well, that was all yesterday so you’ll have to bear with me… I went back and changed it up a bit but some things might still be in the wrong tense! Last night I watched a FB Live event with the trainer I’ve signed up for and it turned out to be THREE hours long so by the time it was finished my brain was fried!

To keep track of our progress in the course I’m updating the database that I wrote last year for training records but can’t settle on a good design - there are a few features missing in the database program that I use that makes it impossible to do a proper relational database design… frustrating!

Awesome!

“getting something off the procrastination list”

“a glorious spring day”

“Adia stepping onto the brick right away”

“my new pillow”

“keen dog eyes on me hoping for more games”