Playing With Fireworks

8 months old and here's her monthly portrait straight out of the camera. She's looking a lot more grown up these days and gets lots of compliments about how pretty she is - no thanks to my spectacular lack of grooming skills I might add. A good brush is definitely in order for those ears.


This week I've been playing a CD of various noises when we tug inside. Not that she shows any signs of being noise sensitive in any way, even when I turn it up pretty loud, but I figure it can't hurt. So far we've gotten through 4 tracks of fireworks - which almost scared the crap out of me until I got used to it as it sounded like a full blown missile attack ..... or what I imagine one would sound like. On Friday evening we got some real life practice in when some moron on a motorbike decided to ride around the oval while we were at agility training. I am happy to report that she kept on tugging happily and didn't even look at him. Next week we have the delights of 'crow scarer' (whatever that is) , shotgun and light aircraft to look forward to. However this time I intend to preview them first so they don't scare me!


Training priorities are still circle running , circle running and more circle running - plus a whole load of playing with as many different toys as I can find. Adding distractions is also progressing well - I have been playing an 'off switch/on switch' game where I jump around like a mad woman and really get her revved up, then while she is leaping around and barking I ask her to sit. Then I start the jumping around, making silly noises, arm flapping stuff again and she is not allowed to join in until she hears her release word. She loves this game just as much as she loves tugging and would play for ages if I let her. (Way too tiring for me though!)


We've also started some brief rear cross foundation in front of the TV of an evening. This is one I am going to have to watch carefully as after the first couple of times she really started to anticipate and move her head before I had actually crossed behind her. As I don't want to create a flick away I will need to work at refining this.

We've also been working stays at home with distractions in as many different outdoor places as I can think of - I can throw toys in front of her and drop food beside her and she won't move. Last night I got her to sit on my small table in the agility area and ran off a couple of times then went back to reward if she didn't move. At one stage when I returned she was sitting in the strangest position with her head down and when I got back to the table I realised she had dropped her food on the ground and was trying to reach it without moving from her sit.

She is also loving plank work with the middle section of my dogwalk on the ground. At first I was taking her dinner outside and clicking and rewarding any interaction with the plank - she was super confident with this and it didn't take long before she was sitting, dropping and turning around on it. Then I used some stick in the ground poles (visualise the markers on a broad jump) on either side of each end of the plank to give it some more definition and started backchaining her running across the plank to a toy. Now she is flying across the plank and loves this game. If I was able to post video, you would see her speeding across with me running along (way) behind and the title ' Why I don't intend to teach a running dogwalk.' And the sub title 'When rewarding away from you your throwing skills need much work'. And the reminder 'Do not position plank near trees.'

Over the next few weeks I will be thinking about how I will train her contacts as I still haven't decided. We have been nose touching to my hand almost since she arrived - I am going to use this to line her up at the start line- plus I have started introducing a target disc in my hand and almost have it to the floor. I know I want a stopped dogwalk, but am still not sure if I am actually going to train a nose touch as I did with Cruz. Although there are a lot of things I like about the nose touch there are also a few things that 'the jury is still out on.' Looking forward to auditing the Lynda Orton-Hill seminar in a few weeks time to see what she does with training nose touches before I make my decision. At least the target disc will be a good party trick if I decide not to go with it.

Girl's Day Out

This is Ivy's new 'gal pal' Sassy, a 10 month old BC owned by a fellow agility competitor. For anyone who reads my 'Agility Kelpies' blog, Sassy is the star of the Greg Derrett DVD watching post made last year.

She has turned into a rather stunning girl, don't you think ? Plus she has brains as well as beauty, her only 'fault' is that she appears to think that she might be a mountain goat rather than a BC and has a whole list of 'objects successfully scaled from a great height' to prove it.

Last weekend we met up, along with another trialler who has an 8 month old pup and had our own puppy workshop. We did circle running, crate work, the puppy set point exercise from Susan Salo's 'Puppy Jumping' DVD, some stay and release work and of course play, play, play and more play. Very exciting for Ivy who hasn't done much training around other dogs - apart from ours. This was the first time she has done off lead work in a strange environment with some high level distractions and I was very pleased with the results.

No, she wasn't perfect and we had a couple of run offs to visit the other puppies, but all up I was happy with her focus, especially when she was working with me. She stayed with me 100% when working and gave me really good focus, plus she never broke a single stay, whether waiting to be released from her crate while I ran off or working stays around the others. Mostly the 'run offs' occurred once when I threw a toy for her to retrieve and on the way back to me she spied her mates, and a couple of times when we had finished and were returning offlead to her crate.

It was a very valuable session in that it showed up several holes in my training that I still need to fix - and without 'trying her out' offlead I wouldn't have gotten that information. Although I don't want her rehearsing 'unwanted' behaviours, I believe there comes a time when you have to put what you have to the test rather than always controlling and manipulating the environment that you train in. In the words of Susan Garrett, ' You should always set the dog up for success, yet at the same time he should experience enough environmental challenge and freedom that he does occasionally fail. This approach allows the dog to learn the boundaries of correct and incorrect responses.'

I believe this is something I did wrong with the kelpies as I didn't let them fail enough.

All the puppies did very well and there were 3 happy owners at the end of the session - still with 'lists' to work on I'm sure. Mine reads :

*Circle running - watch for forging ahead in different environment, she doesn't tend to do this at home.

*Continue to build value for motivators.

*Recall - still needs work. (Don't bother when she is running around with other puppies having a ball, although after they had run for about 30 seconds to a minute they did recall no problems, so maybe still working on recalling first time, every time, which would also relate directly to the value of the motivator.)

*More sessions like this one to continue to work on high level distractions.

It's hot today so we've been working on crate games under the trees. I need to find some higher level distractions for this as she has a rock solid stay in the crate and won't come out no matter what I do without being released. At our puppy session I even led out so she had to run directly past other puppies to get to me and she didn't even look at them.

In between the 'photo session' we worked on sending to the crate from every single extreme angle I could find and recalling for a game of tug incorporating lead out pivots on the flat, acceleration and deceleration. We can recall out of the crate from around the 20 metre mark and send in from around the same distance, so I'm pretty happy with that plus I'm also happy with the speed she is driving in and out of the crate.

Now I need to start a list of potential distractions, might be a good time to review the Crate Games DVD I guess. Any further ideas also gratefully received.

Show Me The Money

Ivy at seven months old today. She still hasn't really had the sudden growth spurt that both the kelpies had around 6 months but when I look back on photos from a few weeks ago, I realise that her change of height is gradually sneaking up on me.

I have been thinking hard about reinforcement and motivation lately and reading the post about reinforcement in this blog really struck a chord with me, so much so that I have printed it out for my training diary as a reminder of just how important building value for a motivator is.
And - wonder of wonders - once you actually have that high value, things like proofing for distractions become a lot easier. This is something that should be glaringly obvious but it's not something that I ever thought about until I read that post, strangely enough.

Since we have been lucky enough to have overseas trainers of the calibre of Susan Garrett and Greg & Laura Derrett visit these shores most of us who have been to their seminars have thought a lot more about reinforcement - and learnt that we are all extremely stingy when it comes to using it effectively. Ivy's training log has 'Building Reinforcement Zone' as one of the first pages, but when I looked back through Cruz's I couldn't find too many references to 'rate of reinforcement' and certainly none relating to RZ. In fact in most cases all I did was document what I actually used.

But after reading Justine's blog, I am now thinking reinforcement through one step further. It's not enough to have an extremely high rate of reinforcement, nor is it enough to have a dog that tugs and takes food willingly - although those things are highly desirable and a big step in the right direction. To go that extra distance you need a motivator that your dog is absolutely wild for - and this can be built up as part of your training process.

Ivy is the first dog I have had that is crazy about tugging and I think this has made me take this behaviour for granted in some ways. But there are many other things in her environment that she is also crazy about, so the first thing I have started to do is to test the value of her tug against other things.

My list so far, in order of (easiest first) my predicted difficulty :
1. Continue tugging with me when L. comes in the front door as she usually runs to greet him.
2. Continue tugging with me when L. comes outside and stands in the agility area.
3. Continue tugging with me when the 2 old dogs are walking outside agility area.
4.Continue tugging with me when L. runs around outside agility area, kicking ball.
5. Same behaviour but inside agility area.
6. Continue tugging with me when L. is running around outside agility area with kelpies.

So far we have passed numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 with flying colours. Have tried number 5 and she ran after the ball once but came straight back and tugged when I called, so this will now be our 'starting point' for distractions and also shows me that I can still build more value for the tug at home before I start to test it out in other environments.

I would have to say that the ball would have equal if not higher value at the moment - but I don't want another dog who is crazy about things that won't fit in my pocket, already have 2 of those! I know that a lot of trainers won't let their agility dogs play with balls at all, but at the end of the day, she is not an 'agility machine' and is still my pet so I don't really like the idea of taking away something that she absolutely adores and has fun playing with - at least the soccer ball is interactive. And depending on how I go building more value for the tug, I can still use the ball to transfer value if I have to.

So I'm off to add some more pages to my training diary - a further page to follow on from my RZ section that focuses on continuing to build value for reinforcers (rather than taking them for granted because your dog willingly 'does' them) and another page to focus on a list of ideas for more formal 'proofing' of behaviours that I am happy with so far - of which there are many, she's a great little girl. And one day, when I know I have that 'golden' motivator that kicks butt with all others, any time and anywhere, I will let you know !

A Belated Merry Christmas

............. from Ivy. No, I'm not into dressing up my working breed dogs, but if the kelpies can cope with a Christmas themed collar for photos, then Ivy can cope with a bib velcroed around her neck for all 15 seconds while I take a photo. Knew that sit-stay was going to come in handy!


We've had a little break from 'running around type training' as she was spayed a couple of weeks back, but the stitches are due to come out in the next day or so and she is more than ready to go. In the meantime we've had fun doing some shaping stuff with the clicker. Almost have speak on command as our first real trick, others will hopefully follow soon.

I have also taken the past couple of weeks to try and document her training a bit more thoroughly and to try and get a clearer picture in my head of what I want this to look like and how I am going to go about it. So, some of these thoughts to follow......... next year.

Ivy Does Warrnambool

Ivy went to her first 2 day agility trial last weekend - in fact a weekend of 'firsts' as it was also her first stay away from home and her first time at the beach. She took everything in her stride and especially enjoyed the beach, her highlights being ............

........... the water (straight in as soon as the lead came off !)

.......... the impromptu training sessions (especially when she got to chase her ball as a reward)

...... and of course the digging .............

Did I mention how much she liked the digging?

It was a big weekend for her and she coped with it extremely well, confident around the accommodation, walking around the town, on the beach and at the trial grounds. She got to play with a couple of other puppies around the same age, (one just a day older) sat at ringside with me for a bit watching other dogs run and of course got lots of human attention from other triallers.

Warrnambool have a fenced exercise yard which was great for letting her run free with the other puppies. L. also came in with me at the end of each day and we did some restrained recalls, restrained running to a toy, tugging and some circle running. I was delighted with her circles as this was the first time I had done them in an unfamiliar location off lead. There were also a ton of distractions going on outside the yard and her focus was brilliant. I was also impressed with her circles, although we are still only running outside circles at this stage.

I have started training inside circles with her, but still need her on lead for these and we are not going much over walking pace until she has a better understanding of me putting pressure on her line.

Most of the training we have done over the past couple of months has revolved around circle running and crate games - with a bit of rear end awareness thrown in for good measure.

She loves working on the balance disc, will happily jump on and off the wobble board - plus loves to tug on it, and has started perch and ladder work.

At just on 5 months, she has nearly all her 'big' teeth and is really developing a strong tug, which I am very happy with. She is also happy to switch back and forward between a toy and food when working - a quality that I have struggled with before with all my previous dogs, so I hope she continues to prove to be the exception.

I will document her foundation training some more next time, but for now here are some more photos from a couple of weeks back - just because I can !

These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things

Once again, don't be deceived by those eyes and the calm demeanour shown in the photo - most of her favourite things don't currently involve an off switch.

Last week I compiled a list of her favourite motivators at 15 weeks for her training diary. I did the same thing at 9 to 10 weeks and it is interesting to see the changes already in just a 6 week period.

At 9 weeks the things she was crazy about were - her Cuz toy, tugging (with anything) and cheese.

At 15 weeks the list now reads - tugging (still with anything), playing with me with no toys, playing with the soccer ball with L. , playing with her water bowl (so much so that she tries to take it into her crate with her at bedtime - and the reason I spent so much money on toys was..............) running - anywhere, anytime, whether it's just running around the yard with us, doing circle running or even just running around by herself - walking is not a preferred option at the moment. In regard to food it's chicken wings, raw steak and roast chicken scraps.

There are quite a number of things in the next column that I would say she 'likes a lot' such as attention from people, playing with other dogs and kangaroo jerky , but I wouldn't say she is totally over the top crazy about them - which is what I want to focus on right now with the main training emphasis still on building up a strong reinforcement zone.

She still likes cheese too , but is not as crazy about it as earlier on - not when there's steak or chicken to be had during training. As for the Cuz toy, that's moved to the 'Indifferent' section now as she's not really interested in it at all these days.

This week she has graduated to spending some time alone in her own little section of the dog run with the other dogs loose in the yard. As I am on holidays at the moment, I can supervise them all, so the plan is to gradually increase the time that she spends in there until that takes over as her designated spot during the day when we are not home.

This has been a big hit with her (just ignore the sad 'I'm behind bars, how could they do this to me? ' look in the photo- proof that the camera does sometimes lie) especially as she gets a bone to chew on and has some other new attractions to entertain her..............


....... like a little swimming pool and a new sand pit for digging. This has been a huge hit with her. She loves to jump from one to the other until she is totally filthy and there's more sand and water on the ground at the moment than in the shells - but a good time is had by Miss Ivy and that's the main thing.

Cruz's old kennel is a bit of a star attraction too - she likes having a little place to hide away if the others hang around the fence too much in search of her bone - their own being finished in record time of course.

I plan on doing puppy class at the Obedience club once she is 4 months old. It's a bit 'industrial strength' for my liking but the kelpies did it from 4 to 6 months and it was good for socialisation and working with distractions. At this stage I am not planning to spend the whole hour in class (heaven forbid!) and will make sure I go in and out of class and combine her work with lots of play sessions. Unfortunately it coincides with the season of country trials in Victoria and I really want to make up for lost time since the car accident with the kelpies, so she probably won't get all that many sessions. However the idea of actually heeling at my side at a walking pace is not really all that appealing to her right now so I don't think she is going to mind all that much. We currently work on very short 'heeling' sessions where she is expected to walk - now if we are 'agility heeling' at a run - she would be happy to do that all day !

Once she is 6 months old, she can join Foundation class at the agility club. She has had lots of exposure coming down on Friday evenings so far and enjoys running around and playing with me outside the rings. Unfortunately she will turn 6 months old on the last training session for the year so will have to wait until next year to join class. Hopefully we will have done loads of foundation work here by then so she will be well and truly ready.

12 Weeks Old.... And Growing !

This little girl sure has a way of working herself very firmly into your heart - I enjoyed working with both the kelpies as puppies (as I still do) and I am really enjoying working with her at the moment too.

My biggest concern is that I have not been able to put as much time into training her so far as I had planned on doing due to having a car accident on the way home from work a few weeks ago and as a result now juggling one car - I spend a lot of time on the road these days picking up L. from work, which is just under a two hour trip. Ivy comes with me in her crate and is certainly now an excellent traveller as a result. The kelpies jump around in the back of the ute (inside the canopy of course) while she has the comfort of the cabin and a good time is had by all - none of them seem to mind that they only stay in the car and don't actually get to come out most evenings.
We play as much as time permits and with a variety of toys - she is happy to tug with anything I offer, plus she also enjoys chasing balls, kongs and also playing with just me and no toys.

She will also work for food rewards (raw steak is probably now beginning to win out marginally over the cheese) but doesn't have quite the same desire for food as she does for a toy. This is fine by me, providing I can still use food on occasion - especially when we are training our end contact behaviour. We have been working on shaping a nose touch to the palm of my hand with food rewards. I am now waiting for harder nose touches to reward and will begin to ask for multiple touches shortly.

We have worked a little on crate games and I am using this approach to release her from the laundry, where she is contained when we are at work. She now sits automatically when my hand touches the release on the baby gate and once I open the gate, will remain in a sit until I give a verbal release. Then she comes blasting out. She does the same thing in her crate, although I haven't shaped the sit at the back of the crate that Susan Garrett uses. Although I understand the rationale for this, I am pretty pleased with her wait for release toward the front of the crate, so at the moment I haven't decided if I will introduce the criteria of sitting at the back of the crate or not.

We have a verbal cue on her sit, have shaped a reasonable drop and I am delighted with her stay so far. I can move up to around ten metres away at the moment and have also added some mild distractions, such as moving my body and showing a toy. This evening I had a work friend visiting and she was happy to provide a distraction for us - Ivy had no problems remaining in her stay until released and also recalled away from playing with my friend whenever I called her.

We have started circle running and so far she is doing pretty good outside circles on both sides. Her speed is really starting to increase and she pushes me to run faster if I'm not quick enough. At first we were jogging the circles, but now I am finding that I am close to running full speed - and at not quite 3 months old ...... I won't be keeping up for much longer. Looks like it's more training for me !

She has been on the wobble board at agility and also on mine and shows no hesitation with either one. She will also sit, drop and tug on the board. Next week I will start her on my balance disc and perch.

She has met some friendly dogs at agility training and loves meeting new people. Last week we went into 'town' a couple of times and walked down the main street. This was really valuable - she had been before but stayed in my arms and the experience from 'street level' was very different for her. She was a bit unsure of a motorised wheelchair at first, but the next day we happened to meet the same lady in the chair again and this time she almost dragged me up to it looking for yet another pat.

On the coming weekend we plan on giving her a bath for the first time - yes, it's long overdue. Then it's back to the vet next week for her final vaccination. So despite the time constraints, I am happy with what we have done together so far and can't wait to build on this over the next few weeks.