I'd just like to discuss the way I believe Keiko works. This will give me a point of reference for where she's at right now, which I can reflect on as we move forward. It also gives me a place to explain some of the stockdog terms and try to build my ability to communicate using proper stockdog jargon. :) Disclaimer: I am a novice and may misuse terms, please correct me if I do! Also, I may leave some things out but that's OK because I will build on this later.
Keiko seems to have a natural sense of balance and rate. This means that she can find the proper place she needs to be in to move the stock, and controls her speed well - she doesn't move the stock too fast or too slow and can adjust her speed to keep them in line.
Keiko is a strong fetch dog. This means she has a strong desire to go get the stock, bring them to me, and balance them to me. She likes to stop movement and hold the stock to me. I think this is part of her natural working style and I think it was reinforced by working on fetching sheep to me in the round pen.
I'm not certain if this is related to Keiko's fetching strength or not, but she seems to be very willing to hit the heads. She is much more confident and willing to hit the heads than she is the heels on cattle. I think she's a little more hesitant to heel a calf because of getting kicked but her confidence builds as she learns to pay attention, get out of the way, and heel low on the foot of the calf. Hitting a heel or a head simply means giving the calf a nip only when necessary to get the animal back in line or to turn it around. (Note: Excessive gripping is undesirable and shouldn't be allowed.)
Keiko needs work on driving. Of course, this is something you teach to the dog but some dogs' natural working instinct is to drive. Driving is where the dog is pushing the stock from behind to a point where you want them to go.
While biddable, Keiko also needs some work obeying on stock. Two of the times she got kicked, it was because she broke a sit or down or wouldn't call off of the stock when I told her too. While you don't want to holler and crank on the dog for wanting to get back to work, you also have to teach them to mind you. So, we'll just continue working slowly but surely on listening while working on stock.
If interested, click here for a link to a list of stockdog terms as defined by the Working Aussie course.
Also, some photos of Keiko's first day working cattle.
Showing posts with label keiko. Show all posts
Showing posts with label keiko. Show all posts
Monday, May 17, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Working stock, day 4
Keiko and I worked cattle for the first time last Wednesday. Yesterday was our fourth time working cattle and was probably the hardest day (for me), by far. The first day on cattle went extremely well. The second day working stock, Keiko got roughed up a bit which made a ding in her confidence. The third time we just worked on building up her confidence again and showing her that working stock was still fun.
We took a break over the weekend and went back to work yesterday. Keiko showed much more confidence but we still decided to let her run once with another dog to try and help her get some of her grip back. This worked wonders! I would talk more on Keiko's performacne but I want to reflect on my handling skills since that's what made yesterday particularly frustrating and I want to be sure I remember the lessons I learned from it.
I have been around stock a bit and have worked cattle some but not extensively and especially not for long periods of time or on horseback or anything like that. So I need to improve my stockmanship. One training tip that is always given to me by one of the guys I'm training with is "work the stock, not the dog!" I have to keep this in mind because it's easy to pay attention to what my dog is doing and try to move her into position instead of just moving the stock and letting her figure out how to help me do it. So when the calves have stopped or when they're moving slowly, I need to work on finding the proper position to be in more quickly and moving my arms/making more noise to get them going. When the stock are stopped and balanced to me, technically Keiko's job is done. I need to keep that in mind - she's not going to lift them off of me so I've gotta get them moving so that she has something to do.
I wasn't really frustrated until our third go-round yesterday. We brought the calves out of the pen and down the fence-line. Keiko has a very intense desire to fetch stock. I think this is naturally her working style and has been reinforced by her training on sheep - all we've done up til this point is have her round the sheep up and bring them to me. I think in that sense, she has figured out how she can help me. Now we need to teach her how she can help me drive the stock to any given destination. This causes problems for me because if I am pushing the calves forward and Keiko sees one starting to break off in front she'll start going around to the heads to push it back in - this is counterproductive for me because I'm trying to drive them forward and running around to their heads will turn the stock completely around. What is frustrating about this is that we get stuck in one spot. When we're stuck in one spot and Keiko can't figure out what I want her to do, she gets to a point where she's like "screw it!" This is where my handler error comes in. The calf in front is breaking off from the group because of where I'm standing. So I need to learn to position myself where I will keep the calves moving forward without splitting them and I need to do that before one starts to go off.
What I've also found frustrating is that I'm having a hard time adjusting to work through the situation. Of course the people I train with help me work through this but some of this I have to figure out for myself. I need to remember to relax, breathe, and to "work the stock, not the dog!" The frustration is only going to make my dog say "forget it!" That being said, I need to remember to praise when my dog she's right to let her know that she's doing what I want her to do.
We'll be back out today. I am going to see if we can stay out of the round pen...I know the round pen is helpful for teaching directions and such, but I'm a little concerned about Keiko getting rolled/kicked or anything else anymore. I think we're at a delicate point with her confidence and I really don't want to ruin both her confidence in herself and her trust in me by letting her get roughed up too much as a young dog, here in the beginning.
We took a break over the weekend and went back to work yesterday. Keiko showed much more confidence but we still decided to let her run once with another dog to try and help her get some of her grip back. This worked wonders! I would talk more on Keiko's performacne but I want to reflect on my handling skills since that's what made yesterday particularly frustrating and I want to be sure I remember the lessons I learned from it.
I have been around stock a bit and have worked cattle some but not extensively and especially not for long periods of time or on horseback or anything like that. So I need to improve my stockmanship. One training tip that is always given to me by one of the guys I'm training with is "work the stock, not the dog!" I have to keep this in mind because it's easy to pay attention to what my dog is doing and try to move her into position instead of just moving the stock and letting her figure out how to help me do it. So when the calves have stopped or when they're moving slowly, I need to work on finding the proper position to be in more quickly and moving my arms/making more noise to get them going. When the stock are stopped and balanced to me, technically Keiko's job is done. I need to keep that in mind - she's not going to lift them off of me so I've gotta get them moving so that she has something to do.
I wasn't really frustrated until our third go-round yesterday. We brought the calves out of the pen and down the fence-line. Keiko has a very intense desire to fetch stock. I think this is naturally her working style and has been reinforced by her training on sheep - all we've done up til this point is have her round the sheep up and bring them to me. I think in that sense, she has figured out how she can help me. Now we need to teach her how she can help me drive the stock to any given destination. This causes problems for me because if I am pushing the calves forward and Keiko sees one starting to break off in front she'll start going around to the heads to push it back in - this is counterproductive for me because I'm trying to drive them forward and running around to their heads will turn the stock completely around. What is frustrating about this is that we get stuck in one spot. When we're stuck in one spot and Keiko can't figure out what I want her to do, she gets to a point where she's like "screw it!" This is where my handler error comes in. The calf in front is breaking off from the group because of where I'm standing. So I need to learn to position myself where I will keep the calves moving forward without splitting them and I need to do that before one starts to go off.
What I've also found frustrating is that I'm having a hard time adjusting to work through the situation. Of course the people I train with help me work through this but some of this I have to figure out for myself. I need to remember to relax, breathe, and to "work the stock, not the dog!" The frustration is only going to make my dog say "forget it!" That being said, I need to remember to praise when my dog she's right to let her know that she's doing what I want her to do.
We'll be back out today. I am going to see if we can stay out of the round pen...I know the round pen is helpful for teaching directions and such, but I'm a little concerned about Keiko getting rolled/kicked or anything else anymore. I think we're at a delicate point with her confidence and I really don't want to ruin both her confidence in herself and her trust in me by letting her get roughed up too much as a young dog, here in the beginning.
Empty Promises
...I'm sad to say that I've been full of them on this blog. I'm seriously going to try and pick this thing back up.
Keiko and I worked cattle again today for the fourth time. There are a few things I want to write about, both to share with whatever followers I may have left (I doubt any) as well as to keep a record of how I felt about the session, what I learned, and what I wanted to improve on for next time. It's late but I want to hit these points when I do come back to write again:
1. I need to learn where to be to keep movement forward
2. Relax. The dog is interested, she has the instinct, now show her what to do with it. Frustration will only turn her off, not on and make you lose sight of your goal.
3. WORK THE CALVES, NOT THE DOG! The dog will figure out what you're doing and how she can help you!
4. Start teaching a "that'll do" for calling off the stock
5. Praise her when she's right!!
6. WORK THE CALVES, NOT THE DOG!!!
Keiko and I worked cattle again today for the fourth time. There are a few things I want to write about, both to share with whatever followers I may have left (I doubt any) as well as to keep a record of how I felt about the session, what I learned, and what I wanted to improve on for next time. It's late but I want to hit these points when I do come back to write again:
1. I need to learn where to be to keep movement forward
2. Relax. The dog is interested, she has the instinct, now show her what to do with it. Frustration will only turn her off, not on and make you lose sight of your goal.
3. WORK THE CALVES, NOT THE DOG! The dog will figure out what you're doing and how she can help you!
4. Start teaching a "that'll do" for calling off the stock
5. Praise her when she's right!!
6. WORK THE CALVES, NOT THE DOG!!!
Friday, August 14, 2009
My decision to go raw
I have been in a constant quest towards improving the quality of care I provide to my animals ever since I first started owning them. I didn't make a real push towards pursuing more natural nutrition for my dogs until about three years ago when it was brought to my attention that certain commercial dog food brands were not the nutritional powerhouses they advertised themselves to be. I did some research and discovered (mostly through this site in the beginning) that the problem with these foods is largely in the excessive use of grains as sources for proteins and other nutrients, along with the preservatives used to give the kibble shelf life.
I have since learned that things such as vaccination protocols and spaying & neutering are also areas of pet care that can be approached from a more natural and healthier standpoint for our pets. But that is for another post.
After doing some research, I switched my dog at the time (a Jack Russell Terrier) over to a holistic, grain-free kibble (EVO). It had higher meat contents, no grains, and overall better quality ingredient content. I observed a change in the brightness of his coloring, his coat was softer, and he produced less stools which broke down quicker than he did on the previous diet he was on. He also had more energy.
I started looking into a raw diet when I joined an online training forum manned by a well-known dog trainer: Ed Frawley. After some online research, purchasing a couple of books, a few conversations with people who fed raw, and a gentle push from a friend I made the leap to raw feeding. I decided to change because I have come to the conclusion that feeding a species-appropriate diet (raw food) provides our dogs with the most readily available nutrients for them, as the nutrients are in their most natural sources. Keiko has been on a raw diet for two and a half weeks now which means the changes often noted when switching from kibble to raw are beginning to show. Previously, Keiko was on Innova Puppy - a high quality low grain (they also have no grain formulas) kibble with specific meat sources and no corn. Also, there are no byproducts!! I want to give things a few more days before I blog about them but a few visible changes have been noted to me by my family: her coat has an even healthier and shinier look to it without the "oily" feeling, her teeth are very clean (although she is a puppy so they shouldn't be very dirty anyway), and she is more excited about meal time than I have ever seen a dog be. This means that breakfast and dinner have become training sessions during which she gets a very high value reward.
I have since learned that things such as vaccination protocols and spaying & neutering are also areas of pet care that can be approached from a more natural and healthier standpoint for our pets. But that is for another post.
After doing some research, I switched my dog at the time (a Jack Russell Terrier) over to a holistic, grain-free kibble (EVO). It had higher meat contents, no grains, and overall better quality ingredient content. I observed a change in the brightness of his coloring, his coat was softer, and he produced less stools which broke down quicker than he did on the previous diet he was on. He also had more energy.
I started looking into a raw diet when I joined an online training forum manned by a well-known dog trainer: Ed Frawley. After some online research, purchasing a couple of books, a few conversations with people who fed raw, and a gentle push from a friend I made the leap to raw feeding. I decided to change because I have come to the conclusion that feeding a species-appropriate diet (raw food) provides our dogs with the most readily available nutrients for them, as the nutrients are in their most natural sources. Keiko has been on a raw diet for two and a half weeks now which means the changes often noted when switching from kibble to raw are beginning to show. Previously, Keiko was on Innova Puppy - a high quality low grain (they also have no grain formulas) kibble with specific meat sources and no corn. Also, there are no byproducts!! I want to give things a few more days before I blog about them but a few visible changes have been noted to me by my family: her coat has an even healthier and shinier look to it without the "oily" feeling, her teeth are very clean (although she is a puppy so they shouldn't be very dirty anyway), and she is more excited about meal time than I have ever seen a dog be. This means that breakfast and dinner have become training sessions during which she gets a very high value reward.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Down, Keiko
Well I was going to post my training plan for teaching "down" but of course I got ahead of myself and started already. :) I started inside, with her wubba since I know she's got drive built up for it now. I took the toy out and got her going by asking "you want it?" which quickly gets her attention now. Then I ducked the toy behind my back and said her name "Keiko" to get her attention, at which point she made eye contact. I praised her (we're still reinforcing her name) then I produced the toy from behind my back. She was already sitting so I placed the toy down between her front paws and drew it towards myself. I said "down" in conjunction with drawing the toy towards myself. At first she just tried to pick up the toy with her mouth so I applied gentle pressure to her shoulders to get her to drop them. She did so quickly and as soon as her chest was on the ground, I praised her excitedly and played a little tug with her and the wubba. The second time I went through the same procedure, but had to reset a couple of times. Since I'd already reset a couple of times, I took her front legs (she was in a sitting position) and guided her into the down position. She plopped quickly on her own then so I praised her lavishly and again played tug. I stopped after a third try.
We worked on this during two more sessions today, keeping them at just three to four repetitions each. During her session tonight, before bedtime, she already got the jist of what she was supposed to do. I now hide the toy behind my back and put her in a sitting position. I make eye contact with her, then use a closed fist to guide her into the down position and saying "down". She quickly dropped down to the lying position the last three times I tried, at which point I produced the toy from behind my back and immediately tossed it onto her front legs for her to play a little tug with. On the last rep, I let her carry the toy back to my room before putting it away for the night. I don't remember how it was raising Rhasta, but I'm really excited to be teaching her down. It's nice to have another option of commands to give her, haha. We'll see how tomorrow's sessions go.
Keiko is really getting the point as far as this toy drive business is going. I think I will introduce another toy tomorrow, but I haven't decided which one yet. I've also resolved to think of an effective way to tie strings to the squeaky tennis balls I have. If that doesn't work, I'll go ahead and get small cuz balls this weekend and tie them to strings.
One of the SAR guys is making me a crate pad for Keiko's home crate...I'm super excited! :D Yay! No more lying on the plastic floor or the thin padding of a towel in the crate! I don't think Keiko actually cares (if anything, she prefers to ly on the plastic as she always bunches the towel up and just puts her head on it) but I will sleep better at night if I think she's sleeping on something comfortable. ;) I've decided that I will keep a simple bath rug in the crate she rides in, in the car so I also need to go buy one of those.
Alright, it's way past my bedtime and I have class in the morning. Goodnight!
We worked on this during two more sessions today, keeping them at just three to four repetitions each. During her session tonight, before bedtime, she already got the jist of what she was supposed to do. I now hide the toy behind my back and put her in a sitting position. I make eye contact with her, then use a closed fist to guide her into the down position and saying "down". She quickly dropped down to the lying position the last three times I tried, at which point I produced the toy from behind my back and immediately tossed it onto her front legs for her to play a little tug with. On the last rep, I let her carry the toy back to my room before putting it away for the night. I don't remember how it was raising Rhasta, but I'm really excited to be teaching her down. It's nice to have another option of commands to give her, haha. We'll see how tomorrow's sessions go.
Keiko is really getting the point as far as this toy drive business is going. I think I will introduce another toy tomorrow, but I haven't decided which one yet. I've also resolved to think of an effective way to tie strings to the squeaky tennis balls I have. If that doesn't work, I'll go ahead and get small cuz balls this weekend and tie them to strings.
One of the SAR guys is making me a crate pad for Keiko's home crate...I'm super excited! :D Yay! No more lying on the plastic floor or the thin padding of a towel in the crate! I don't think Keiko actually cares (if anything, she prefers to ly on the plastic as she always bunches the towel up and just puts her head on it) but I will sleep better at night if I think she's sleeping on something comfortable. ;) I've decided that I will keep a simple bath rug in the crate she rides in, in the car so I also need to go buy one of those.
Alright, it's way past my bedtime and I have class in the morning. Goodnight!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Training plan
Today wasn't very special. The best thing about today is that by Keiko's reaction when I say "you want it?" I can tell that the drive building is working. She perks up when I say those three special words and goes consistently after the toy now. I'm a little worried about being able to teach the retrieve as there is a small window you really have to work with when they're puppies and I'm afraid that by getting her at 4 months, I may be in the tail end of that window. But we'll continue working and see how it goes. I need to get another Wubba so that I can just trade her one for the other and I don't become the "bad guy" for taking the wubba way from her to throw it again. (For now anyway)
I have decided that I need a more concrete training plan as far as what I want to teach next and how I want to teach it. I don't like to make training too regimented as far as this puppy stuff goes because I feel a lot of it should be integrated into play, as opposed to being structured teaching time...mostly because puppies at this age get bored FAST! I will update this post after I've had a chance to jot down some notes regarding how I want to teach the "down", which I've decided is the next command I want to teach her. I haven't fully deciphered the way Keiko's brain works; what makes her tick and what motivates her, so I'm going to wait until I have a better feel for her to teach "stay" and "come". I am beginning to feel more bonded to her now though. I was actually missing her while I was in class (first day of summer classes...ugh!) and at lunch with a friend today, and I felt a little more genuine when I loved on her when I first saw her today. I think it's finally settling in that this is my dog that I bought with my money and I make all the rules concerning her! Foreign concept, I know.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Building drive for the "wubba"
Keiko has a blue puppy "wubba" toy, pictured below.
I realized the other day that while she would play with her toys inside, she quickly lost interest in them outside. I decided that this was a problem, mainly because I am planning to train her for a job (whether that ends up being search and rescue or herding) and it is important that she has a drive for toys - primarily for the SAR training. I also decided this was a bit of a problem because I enjoy playing fetch and other games that involve with toys my dog but if I have a pup that doesn't have much desire to play with toys outside (or at all), that would seriously hamper my ability to enjoy the activities I like to do with my pup. I also prefer to do a majority of my training with toys as opposed to with treats. Luckily, I have a puppy! Which means that my dog is still open to being molded and also means that some things just have to be taught to her - i.e. HOW to play with certain toys!
So I decided that I would begin making a more serious effort to build her toy drive. Many puppies don't take to playing with toys outside because their owners only play with them inside. So I have switched to only playing with toys with Keiko (for now it's just the wubba) outside. Inside, she gets either her puppy kong or her chilly bone and those are just to keep her company in her crate/to help ease her poor gums as she gets into the teething stage. Otherwise, if we are going to play with a toy we go outside to do so.
How I'm beginning to build drive
My first session began with me taking Keiko out into the backyard to potty. At this point, she hadn't played with a toy inside since yesterday. I hid the wubba in my back pocket. Once Keiko pottied, I produced the wubba from my back pocket. I got her attention, squeezed it a few times in rapid succession, and asked in a high voice "you want it? You want it? You want it?" This has been the phrase that comes naturally to me as I try to build her excitement over whatever I have in my hand. Then I wiggled it a bit so that the long pieces of fabric flapped about. When I knew I had her attention (her eyes were bright, big, and on me, and her ears were pressed forward) I drew the toy down to the ground, squeaked it, and dragged it about a foot across the ground in front of her. As I did this, I shouted "get it!" which is the cue I've been giving her to go after her toy. She went after it and I let her "kill" it - she pounced and grabbed it. I immediately erupted into praise: "Good girl! Good Keiko! Good girl!" and I let her carry it around a bit. I took the toy and did this two more times. As usual, I got excited about the good response I was receiving and threw it a fourth time, which proved to be one too many. She went after the toy but didn't pick it up. She is a puppy and as such, was bored with the game. I resolved to make sure I didn't push it too far the next time.
We went out into the backyard a total of four times today. On the second time, I threw the toy three times following the same procedure. The only thing I changed is that I ran backwards, calling her to me while she carried the toy. All the while I made it exciting, using animated body language and a high-pitched voice to indicate that I liked what she was doing. I concluded the second, third, and fourth sessions by letting her carry the toy back into the house and into my room. Once in my room I took the toy and put it away until the next session.
In the third session, I tied a thin leash around the wubba to turn it into an improvised ball-on-string sort of toy. I plan on buying a couple of the Cuz balls and tying strings to them, but for now I will stick with what I have available to me. This made it much more convenient, as I could extend the distance I dragged the toy without being directly attached to it or having Keiko target my hand or legs as opposed to the toy (which she has done in the past). Each session I would throw it about three or four times, never pressing my luck and always having Keiko carry it back into the house and to my room. On the third time, I began playing a little tug with her. I allowed her to win the tug and carry the toy around for a bit before I took it away. I decided that for the sake of building her toy drive, I could sacrifice the potential for creating any "hierarchy confusion" that may be involved in letting her win the game of tug of war for now.
The fourth session was the last of the evening. Between the third and the fourth session, Keiko and I went on an hour walk down to a nearby park and back. I brought the wubba-on-a-string with me in a bag and went out to a bit of open field. I latched on her fifteen foot leash, let her explore the immediate area, then produced the wubba. I can already tell by the look in her eye that she is beginning to understand this game. She is more excited and focused on the toy, and goes after it more times. I played the game a bit in the field, then continued our walk on down the road. We got lucky and the cows were out by a fence we walked by. Well, my affinity for cattle and the fact that my puppy IS a herding dog and may have a future in herding...I just had to stop! Keiko looked at them like "what the heck are those?" at first, but we settled down beside the fence near some calves for a while and she kept trying to find a way under the fence to investigate. The calves were about four months old, and just as intrigued by us as Keiko was by them. It was a great experience and I'm really glad that I had the chance to introduce her to some livestock so close to us. After meeting the calves, we went on down the road where we played the wubba game again in another stretch of open field. This went well. On our walk back to the house, we crossed some rocky terrain which Keiko handled well so I was extremely pleased with our evening.
I will continue to post on building drive, as this is a very important topic and blogging will help me keep a good record of what works, doesn't work, and how we improve over time. I will also try to get some pictures of the toy and Keiko with the toy, if I can. Usually there is too much commotion for me to try and operate a camera and actually get a picture in action.
I realized the other day that while she would play with her toys inside, she quickly lost interest in them outside. I decided that this was a problem, mainly because I am planning to train her for a job (whether that ends up being search and rescue or herding) and it is important that she has a drive for toys - primarily for the SAR training. I also decided this was a bit of a problem because I enjoy playing fetch and other games that involve with toys my dog but if I have a pup that doesn't have much desire to play with toys outside (or at all), that would seriously hamper my ability to enjoy the activities I like to do with my pup. I also prefer to do a majority of my training with toys as opposed to with treats. Luckily, I have a puppy! Which means that my dog is still open to being molded and also means that some things just have to be taught to her - i.e. HOW to play with certain toys!
So I decided that I would begin making a more serious effort to build her toy drive. Many puppies don't take to playing with toys outside because their owners only play with them inside. So I have switched to only playing with toys with Keiko (for now it's just the wubba) outside. Inside, she gets either her puppy kong or her chilly bone and those are just to keep her company in her crate/to help ease her poor gums as she gets into the teething stage. Otherwise, if we are going to play with a toy we go outside to do so.
How I'm beginning to build drive
My first session began with me taking Keiko out into the backyard to potty. At this point, she hadn't played with a toy inside since yesterday. I hid the wubba in my back pocket. Once Keiko pottied, I produced the wubba from my back pocket. I got her attention, squeezed it a few times in rapid succession, and asked in a high voice "you want it? You want it? You want it?" This has been the phrase that comes naturally to me as I try to build her excitement over whatever I have in my hand. Then I wiggled it a bit so that the long pieces of fabric flapped about. When I knew I had her attention (her eyes were bright, big, and on me, and her ears were pressed forward) I drew the toy down to the ground, squeaked it, and dragged it about a foot across the ground in front of her. As I did this, I shouted "get it!" which is the cue I've been giving her to go after her toy. She went after it and I let her "kill" it - she pounced and grabbed it. I immediately erupted into praise: "Good girl! Good Keiko! Good girl!" and I let her carry it around a bit. I took the toy and did this two more times. As usual, I got excited about the good response I was receiving and threw it a fourth time, which proved to be one too many. She went after the toy but didn't pick it up. She is a puppy and as such, was bored with the game. I resolved to make sure I didn't push it too far the next time.
We went out into the backyard a total of four times today. On the second time, I threw the toy three times following the same procedure. The only thing I changed is that I ran backwards, calling her to me while she carried the toy. All the while I made it exciting, using animated body language and a high-pitched voice to indicate that I liked what she was doing. I concluded the second, third, and fourth sessions by letting her carry the toy back into the house and into my room. Once in my room I took the toy and put it away until the next session.
In the third session, I tied a thin leash around the wubba to turn it into an improvised ball-on-string sort of toy. I plan on buying a couple of the Cuz balls and tying strings to them, but for now I will stick with what I have available to me. This made it much more convenient, as I could extend the distance I dragged the toy without being directly attached to it or having Keiko target my hand or legs as opposed to the toy (which she has done in the past). Each session I would throw it about three or four times, never pressing my luck and always having Keiko carry it back into the house and to my room. On the third time, I began playing a little tug with her. I allowed her to win the tug and carry the toy around for a bit before I took it away. I decided that for the sake of building her toy drive, I could sacrifice the potential for creating any "hierarchy confusion" that may be involved in letting her win the game of tug of war for now.
The fourth session was the last of the evening. Between the third and the fourth session, Keiko and I went on an hour walk down to a nearby park and back. I brought the wubba-on-a-string with me in a bag and went out to a bit of open field. I latched on her fifteen foot leash, let her explore the immediate area, then produced the wubba. I can already tell by the look in her eye that she is beginning to understand this game. She is more excited and focused on the toy, and goes after it more times. I played the game a bit in the field, then continued our walk on down the road. We got lucky and the cows were out by a fence we walked by. Well, my affinity for cattle and the fact that my puppy IS a herding dog and may have a future in herding...I just had to stop! Keiko looked at them like "what the heck are those?" at first, but we settled down beside the fence near some calves for a while and she kept trying to find a way under the fence to investigate. The calves were about four months old, and just as intrigued by us as Keiko was by them. It was a great experience and I'm really glad that I had the chance to introduce her to some livestock so close to us. After meeting the calves, we went on down the road where we played the wubba game again in another stretch of open field. This went well. On our walk back to the house, we crossed some rocky terrain which Keiko handled well so I was extremely pleased with our evening.
I will continue to post on building drive, as this is a very important topic and blogging will help me keep a good record of what works, doesn't work, and how we improve over time. I will also try to get some pictures of the toy and Keiko with the toy, if I can. Usually there is too much commotion for me to try and operate a camera and actually get a picture in action.
P.S. I apologize for less-than-decently worded passages and any hint of scatterbrained-ness in my posts. One of my personal goals in maintaining this blog is that I become better able to express my my thoughts in coherent statements.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
WOW. Today was my first Saturday practice as a pre-apprentice on the search and rescue team and boy was it hot! I had a lot of fun, but the heat definitely took a toll on me. We were out from 7 am until about 12 pm. Thank goodness we didn't stay much longer, because the sun was out in full effect by 10:30 or 11 or so. Man, that Texas sun combined with the gentle humidity down here really will take a lot out of you! I always admire the dogs' ability to work in this heat, though we always have to be careful that they don't overheat.
I have been doing a lot of socialization with Keiko. Every day, we've done something new. This week we drove back from visiting home on Wednesday. Thursday we went to to the local feed store to buy her a collar that fits and to meet some new people. We also saw chickens, which she barked at when she first saw them. We revisited them and this time she handled it better, just looking on with intense curiosity. The employees at the store loved her! Later that evening we went to agility class, where she was loved on (and given one too many liver treats) by the participants. I really got to see her 'be an Aussie', which was fun! We let her romp around a bit and the instructor's stud dog (who is a black tri Aussie) taught Keiko a little bit about how Aussies play. I'm excited for next week so that she can get out and play with him a bit again. Friday we walked around the northern part of campus, near the dorms. We went up and down stairs, some small, some tall, some wide, etc etc. She handles the various terrain VERY well. I was very pleased with how well she took in campus. There weren't many people around since summer school hasn't started yet but we walked by a few people and some bikers passed us and she didn't bark. (yay!) We'll tackle another part of campus tomorrow, the other half of north east campus.
I keep reminding myself that she IS a puppy and I need to let her be one. She's at a bit of a frustrating age for me...four months. She's smart enough to learn things but she's not quite to the point where I can actually start really working and training her. This is somewhat of a new experience for me, since she's four months old but has no training basis on her so I'm starting from scratch but not with an 8 week old puppy. I'm glad, however, that I'm having this experience because I will gain handling skills from it! So now, I'm focusing on building her toy drive and teaching a few basic commands but keeping it fun. I will have to purchase a couple of Cuz toys so that I can tie a string to them and build some of her drive with the ball-on-a-string toy. I also have moved to only playing with her toys outside, as she was getting to the point where she would only play with toys inside and not outside. The only toys she gets inside are either her kong or her chilly bone, and those are given in her crate since she's still teething. We'll see how it goes.
Well, I'm going to go play with her for a bit. More will come later!
I have been doing a lot of socialization with Keiko. Every day, we've done something new. This week we drove back from visiting home on Wednesday. Thursday we went to to the local feed store to buy her a collar that fits and to meet some new people. We also saw chickens, which she barked at when she first saw them. We revisited them and this time she handled it better, just looking on with intense curiosity. The employees at the store loved her! Later that evening we went to agility class, where she was loved on (and given one too many liver treats) by the participants. I really got to see her 'be an Aussie', which was fun! We let her romp around a bit and the instructor's stud dog (who is a black tri Aussie) taught Keiko a little bit about how Aussies play. I'm excited for next week so that she can get out and play with him a bit again. Friday we walked around the northern part of campus, near the dorms. We went up and down stairs, some small, some tall, some wide, etc etc. She handles the various terrain VERY well. I was very pleased with how well she took in campus. There weren't many people around since summer school hasn't started yet but we walked by a few people and some bikers passed us and she didn't bark. (yay!) We'll tackle another part of campus tomorrow, the other half of north east campus.
I keep reminding myself that she IS a puppy and I need to let her be one. She's at a bit of a frustrating age for me...four months. She's smart enough to learn things but she's not quite to the point where I can actually start really working and training her. This is somewhat of a new experience for me, since she's four months old but has no training basis on her so I'm starting from scratch but not with an 8 week old puppy. I'm glad, however, that I'm having this experience because I will gain handling skills from it! So now, I'm focusing on building her toy drive and teaching a few basic commands but keeping it fun. I will have to purchase a couple of Cuz toys so that I can tie a string to them and build some of her drive with the ball-on-a-string toy. I also have moved to only playing with her toys outside, as she was getting to the point where she would only play with toys inside and not outside. The only toys she gets inside are either her kong or her chilly bone, and those are given in her crate since she's still teething. We'll see how it goes.
Well, I'm going to go play with her for a bit. More will come later!
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