So after much much much thought/consideration/research/nail chewing =)  I have decided to take the plunge and train Silvia Trkman's running contacts! Since it is a lot of work in the beginning, but less later on, this is the perfect time to start training. From what I have heard, I can always train a 2o2o if this does not work out, so what the hey? Why not? I love the idea of it, plus it would be easier on her in the long run (since I am not planning on running her over contact equip all that often once she understands it. Plus I love the idea of not having to redo all of the training I do on the 2o2o after every trial. Basically, every time you trial and release your dog the second he reaches the 2o2o, you are undoing all of the STOP training you have been working so hard to instill in their minds...which really is not what you want in the first place.
The Trkman method is pretty vague is the only thing, so I am going to get the dvd and see if she is any more clear in that than she is on her website.

I want to do Trkman RC's for the Dog Walk and A-Frame, then I want her to drive to the end of the plank, then wait for the sound of the plank banging to release her from the Teeter. I dont know if anyone has ever tried teaching this before, but it makes sense to me, so I might as well try! Right now I am trying to decide whether I want to keep going on the teeter training first, or move on to the running contacts while continuing the wobble board exercises. I do not want her to get confused between the board running and the very low teeter, so I cannot do both at the same time.

Right now we are working on:

Circle work: I have a video of this I took last night that I will post. I dont know how we can progress in this other than just doing it in other places (which we are doing). She is great at outside circle full speed, inside circle full speed, 360's (whirl and hurl), front crosses, and deceleration/acceleration. My Good Girl!!!

The point set drill: (Susan Salo's foundation jumping dvd set...SO interesting!). Kenzie is not progressing as well I would like. She goes around the second jump if it is above 12".  So I am just going slow, keeping the sessions short, and today instead of using my steel jumps which go from 4", 8", 12", 16", 20", I am going to move to my pvc jumps which I can slide the jump cups up incrementally 1/2in. at a time, which will hopefully be setting her up for success.

Ladder: she goes up and down it as I walk beside. If she steps out before the end, I do not throw the toy and circle back to try it again. I am not going to do this much longer, as I think that it is practicing going slow, which is not what I want my dog to do.

Chute:I have my chute barrel without the chute on it to introduce her to tunnels. Kenzie is pretty skittish with new things, and I knew that this was going to be touchy to introduce. Since the chute is stationary and not dark, I thought that is would be a nice first step to introducing tunnels. Unfortunately, I first introduced it the "old way", which is to hold the dogs collar right in front of the tunnel (or chute) and call the dog through. Well, I threw the toy through instead, and while she did it one or two times, she then decided that she was never going near that thing again, because I was going to force her to go through it...now, while in my mind I never forced her to do anything, she saw it that way...so she not only became scared of that while thing, she also lost trust in me =(((.   As soon as I realized what had happened, I did not go near the chute for a good week to give her a chance to recover. If I even looked at it, or started to walk in the direction of the chute, she would drop her head and go lay down on the opposite side of the field. Poor girl!!! So now I know that I have to be VERY VERY careful when I introduce her to things. She cannot know that I want her to do them, I just need to set things up so that if she decides to do them, she is rewarded.

After a week of not going near the chute, I decided to put it in the gate of our agilty field (which we go in twice a day to play fetch, catch, running circles, etc. She sees is as a very very fun and rewarding place to be. I have trained her to wait at the open gate for verbal release that she may enter. So I put the chute in the opening, closed the gates around it, then gave the release cue. She shot through the chute and said "Okay! Throw the ball!!!". So I did, but I bowled it through the chute and then did not call her back to me once she ran after it. I just let her decide to go get it and bring it back... and she did! I did the for a couple of days, until she seemed to not be afraid of it any more. 

While I was getting her used to the chute, I was also teaching her the "go ahead" signal of my dog side hand signaling for her to go ahead. I would give the signal while throwing the ball/toy with my other hand. She picked it up no problem. So then I starting giving the go ahead motion to the chute that still had gates on either side. She picked that up right away as well, and then I would throw the toy over the fence for her to go get, always marking (yes!) when she took the chute. The third step was to take the tunnel out of the gate entrance and just have it in the middle of the field. I gave the motion as always, and she took it!!!!  She now loves to run through her chute!  I am now getting ready to change to my tunnel, I just have to figure out a way to stabilize it as well as possible so that she does not get scared by it moving on her.

Running the board: I tried to get her to run the board on the ground last night, but we still have not quite figured out how to make this all work. I want her to be running fast, not just kinda giong for her toy, so that means that the toy must be in motion to get that kind of speed. So I am doing the whole: hold her collar, throw the toy, wait a split second, then release with a "get it" cue. With a wide board, she is staying on it until the end as long as my throw is right on and straight ahead, which should be a given at this point.  

Warning, this is long, so if you want to just read the first and last paragraph you can =) 

 

So, Kenzie has been way too reactive for me to take to any of my regular dog training classes (I am a trainer), so instead, I have been taking her a private lesson I do with a friend, which we do next to a very big field. I work with her way out in the field as the client is getting set up and warming up her dog. Each week for 3 weeks now I have been working my way closer and closer, but Kenzie has never been able to actually relax while seeing the other dog. As long as I have had her (4mos), I have never seen her relax while in the presence of strange dog (any dog not in our family).

 

Well, this past sat I brought her crate and set it up on the other side of the patio where the dog was going to be working, with a blanket to block the visual if needed. I also came prepared with stuffed kongs and a big bully stick, which she has never seen before. I did my usual (get her used to the dog far away, work closer if she looks ready to, which she did)and then put her in the crate with the blanket covering the side the dog was going to be on (the dog is a good 40ft away). She was too stressed to be interested in the kong or bully stick, but she would take treats. So I then started doing something similar to the Relaxation Protocol we have been working on lately at home: I took a step away, returned and dropped treats in. Took two steps away, dropped treats, 5 steps, took 10 steps and paused etc. I acutally went pretty fast until I was walking quite a distance away, and pausing, and she still looked calm, just watching me, waiting for me to come back with more treats. I then proceeded to teach the class, periodically going back to give treats and quiet praise. She looked pretty calm, and I would have said relaxed, except for the fact that she still was not interested in the bully stick or kong. After about 20 minutes of calm behavior, each time I returned to treat her, I lifted a side of the blanket a little higher, giving her a little more stimulation visually. She did not seem to care in the least! Well, about 30min into our lesson, the other dog got riled up about a stranger that walked through and barked quite a few times at him. Each time the other dog barked I briskly walked over to Kenzie, praising her the whole time, then dropped a jackpot of treats (similar to the sound desensitization we had been doing at home). The dog timed it perfectly...each time she barked she waited until i had treated and returned before barking again =))))  Once the other dog stopped barking, it was a good 10 minutes before I went to treat Kenzie again...and she was laying down with her back to us, chewing on the bully stick!!! She really hardly even cared about me coming over and giving treats! She was actully RELAXED!!! She was not interested in watching that other dog at all! I just could not believe it. Since she looked so relaxed, I decided to end the session with some "Look At That!" (Control Unleashed game, look up www.controlunleashed.net), which she still does not really "get". But it was wonderful, it was the best session of LAT we have had yet, and I think that it was because she was well below her threshold.

 

So anyway, all of this to say that I can see the RP and LAT working! I was starting to get discouraged because it seemed like she was not improving...but this marked improvement that I have to share!!!

 

Last week we focused on getting her obstacle focused: walking up perpendicular to the ladder and swinging hips and all four feet into ladder. Bringing a jump into the house and shaping her to jump it. Starting out very low, then making it higher and higher. I did this for two days, then moved it outside and did the same thing. Putting her in a sit right in front of a jump bump, which was right in front of a low jump, then putting the toy a dog's length from the jump on the other side, then releasing her to it.  We did the ladder work and the jump bump drill for a week, and she really did not show any enthusiasm for it at all. It felt like work to her...why cant we just PLAY???  I brought the ladder closer to the house, rather than in the big agility field (less distractions), tried upping the value of treats used, and kept the training sessions very short, all of which did seem to help, but it still did not seem fun to her.

This week I pulled out the LIVE toy! (me throwing the ball/toy as a reward, rather than it just sitting there).I knew that I wanted to up her enthusiasm, but I also wanted to keep her obstacle focused. So last night I combined parts of the two jump drills, and actually had a great session! I just stood right next to the jump (not looking at her) with her toy in my hand. When she decided to jump it, I threw the toy ahead of her, and she ran after it with vigor!  We then did the same thing with the ladder. She had to walk up or down the ladder all the way to the end without coming out, then as she was making the correct exit, I marked it with a yes and threw the toy ahead of her. She was pretty clumsy with both drills, but there was a marked improvement in her attitude toward them. Then today, when I went to do the same drills, she floored me with her very first SAIL over a jump with a grin on her face! She actually looked as though she were enjoying herself =)  The same thing went for the ladder. While it was not as much fun as jumping, she was willing to keep trying until she got it right, kinda like it was a game. It was a badly needed jump in progress, one that gave me great hope for us as an Agility Team!

In the second month of Kenzie's agility foundation training, I focused on shaping games: Shaping her to put her feet on things (great first shaping exercise). To put her front feet on a perch box. To swing her hips toward me while her front feet are on a perch box. To put all four feet on a platform. To slam down a wobble board. To put all four feet on the wobble board. I used a toy with training the wobble board, but I have to be careful because when I mark it, she tends to release herself. If she does, I just wait for her to get back on it (all four feet) and tip it, then I mark it, pause, then release and throw the toy. I also got her up to full speed this month on her circle work, with doing front crosses and tight 360 turns all around! If she starts to get ahead of me, I slow down and pat my side to remind her that she is supposed to be beside me, then I start a circle with her on the inside, where she has to be in the right position for it to work. I take her out and do circle work with her as often as possible in strange places. I do use her tennis ball for this, as I have found it be the easiest to work with. I give her primary reward tossed to where she is supposed to be (rewarding her for being in the correct position), then a secondary reward once she brings it back, tossing it far away...lots and lots of fun for her! I always have her on the 50' long lead when doing outside of our yard. She just drags it around, no biggie for her.
Here is a video of training Kenzie to swing her hips on a perch box.

For my beginning foundation training, I stuck with Moe Strenfel's methods most of the time. The first week: Tug, Look, Touch, Break (paws on stomach), Name Game, Side (start line position). Side took the longest, a good two weeks to get her to where she was doing it 90% of the time, with physical cue and verbal cue. I originally taught it by turning her head with the treat away from my body, which turned her rear end in to me, but I ended up re-teaching it using a clicker and shaping the behavior with a perch box (will go over that later).

We then moved to stay with break as a release to the toy in my hand, and started "waltzing", which turned into learning the front cross.

I started Kenzie's agility foundation training when I had had her for one month. The first 2 weeks was spent building the relationship/trust, before any real training could begin. Because had been a stray before she went to the shelter, then came to us, she was very distrustful of us while she was outside and "free" (not on leash, but in our fenced in yard). But she was very loving when inside. So she was put "on the leash" while outside, so that she would stay in her "pet dog" mindset, rather than the "stray dog" mindset she would default to if not on-lead outside. She stayed "on the leash" while outside (always supervised) for a good 2 months. She started getting better after around 2 weeks, but then she started fence fighting, so that was the main reason for keeping her on it for the remaining 6 weeks. Now if she looks like she is about to fence fight, I can call her off by redirecting her to a toy (four months later). I was also teaching her that there are rules to toy play: you bring it all the way to me for me to throw it again. You do not bark at me to get me to throw it, if you do, I walk away. We also introduced a rope/squeaker toy, and she learned how to tug lightly (it took her a good month to really start tugging, but only after I threw it a few times. It took her 3.5 months to go for the toy in my hand straight off the bat). I was also teaching her that being in the house was a good thing: when you come inside, I will always have a toy ready to throw for you! (this was also the first step in a really great recall). I also realized that she was too scared/timid to take treats out of my hand, and that she had no idea of the premise: "If I do what she wants, I get the treat." So I started hand feeding her her food (not looking at her), and this seemed to make a big difference in her willingness to take treats from me.

In the third week, since she already knew sit, that was what I started her on when it came to earning the treats. This worked in upping her confidence, so we also started working on shadow heeling: 
started Kenzie's agility foundation training when I had had her for 3wks. The 2 weeks was building the relationship/trust: she had been a stray before she went to the shelter, then came to us, so she was very distrustful of us while she was outside and "free" (not on leash, but in our fenced in yard). But she was very loving when inside. So she was put "on the leash" while outside, so that she would stay in her "pet dog" mindset, rather than the "stray dog" mindset she would default to if not on-lead outside. She stayed "on the leash" while outside (always supervised) for a good 2 months. She started getting better after around 2 weeks, but then she started fence fighting, so that was the main reason for keeping her on it for the remaining 6 weeks. Now if she looks like she is about to fence fight, I can call her off by redirecting her to a toy (four months later). I was also teaching her that there are rules to toy play: you bring it all the way to me for me to throw it again. You do not bark at me to get me to throw it, if you do, I walk away. We also introduced a rope/squeaker toy, and she learned how to tug lightly (it took her a good month to really start tugging, but only after I threw it a few times. It took her 3.5 months to go for the toy in my hand straight off the bat). I was also teaching her that being in the house was a good thing: when you come inside, I will always have a toy ready to throw for you! (this was also the first step in a really great recall). I also realized that she was too scared/timid to take treats out of my hand, and that she had no idea of the premise: "If I do what she wants, I get the treat." So I started hand feeding her her food (not looking at her), and this seemed to make a big difference in her willingess to take treats from me. She already knew sit, so that was what I started her on with the treats, upping her confidence. In the third week I started working on shadow heeling: 


She also learned down and standthis week. The following week we continued to work on shadow heeling, as well as how to put sit, down, stand together for one treat. She found this very fun, and it really helped increase her confidence. By the time we had had her a month, she was actually looking forward to training time, and was even able to perform in front of people. This was when I decided it was time to start the agility foundation training!

 

She also learned down and stand this week. The following week we continued to work on shadow heeling, as well as how to put sit, down, stand together for one treat. She found this very fun, and it really helped increase her confidence. By the time we had had her a month, she was actually looking forward to training time, and was even able to perform in front of people. This was when I decided it was time to start the agility foundation training!

We had a bit of a set back yesterday; I left Kenzie outside with Riley for a few hours, and she actually reverted back to her previous way of living: disconnected to her owners, not a part of their lives, and living outdoors.

Here’s the story:
It was a beautiful Monday, and when I went home for lunch to let the dogs out to play, I decide to let them stay outside for the rest of the afternoon while I finished up work for the day. I went back to check on them a few times, as this had been the first time Kenzie had been left outside unattended while we were not home. When I came home a couple hrs later, they were still there, happy as larks. But when I went inside, Kenzie did not want to come along, she wanted to stay outside. I thought that it just had to do with it being a beautiful day, so I did not make a big deal out of it, I just her stay outside. Well, we all ended up spending the rest of the afternoon outside, enjoying the pretty weather. When it was starting to get dark, I called all of the dogs in. Kenzie came, because I used her actual recall (I made sure to reward her well for this), but then she lay down right in front of the door with her back to the rest of us (and the house). It was very clear from her body language that she did not want to be in here; she wanted to be outside. I knew that she did not need to go to the bathroom, so we pulled a toy out and played with her to get her out of the mud room and with the rest of us, but once we stopped playing, she again lay down with her back to us. At this point I just thought that she wanted to be outside, and that was all. Once it was time to train/hand feed her, I realized that something was wrong. When we went into the quiet room for feeding, instead of her being ready to work for her evening meal as always, she lay down with her back to me and would NOT give me eye contact. So I just hand fed her, making sure I turned by body away from her (passive body language) to try to help her relax and not feel threatened. Once she was done eating, I started petting her, then moved to massaging her ears/face (which she loves). I then paused and invited her to cuddle up to me, which she did (still not giving eye contact). I continued to massage her head/ears, then moved to the back, and finally the chest/neck area. During this time I would pause, wait for her to nudge me, then start up again, telling her she is a good girl. Once I thought that she was relaxed, I got up and moved back into the living room with everyone else. I then invited her to come up onto my lap for more massage, which she accepted (still no eye contact). Here I massaged her for a few minutes and then stopped, she nudged me as before, but I did not resume until she actually looked into my eyes to say her usual “hey, why did you stop?”. Then I resumed massaging her. From this point on, she gave me steady, soft, “loving” eye contact for the rest of the massage. She stayed connected for the rest of the evening, and even this morning she stayed connected all the way up until I left for work.

                    

What did I learn through this? Even though she wanted to be outside, it was not good for her, because it caused her to go back into the mindset of her former life: I live outside, not connected to my people. Even though she had been living inside with us for four months, it only took a few hours for her to revert to the mindset she had viewed for the majority of her life.

It also demonstrated to me how important it is to get voluntary soft eye contact from your dog. Hard eye contact does not count (i.e. if you have a toy or treat and you wait for eye contact). Also, often if you say their name, because it is related to doing something exciting (going outside, getting dinner, getting a treat, etc), that will also result in hard eye contact. In my experience, soft eye contact is only offered when the dog trusts you. And the more the dog trusts you, and the stronger the bond, the more frequent the soft eye contact will be.

 

 

After day 6 I got the flu, but fortunately my wonderful husband stepped up to the plate and took her to the dog park to throw the ball for her once a day for the remaining 4 days. On day 11 I took her to the pet store to see if there was a change in her behavior... and there was! Whereas before this challenge, when we saw a dog, she always barked or growled at it, but then was able to be redirected, this time she did not react verbally at all! She was very interested in the other dogs, but she did not growl or bark!!!

I have found that our new dog Kenzie is quite dog reactive. This means that she has a strong reaction when she sees other dogs, and in my opinion, it is not a favorable one. She usually gets very stiff, her tail goes straight up, and she barks ferociously. Without any of my secret weapons, she ignores me completely, and I have to pretty much drag her away from the dog to get her to calm down. Now, what about these secret weapons, you may be asking: well, if we are far enough from the dog, and the dog was not barking at her, I found that she would pay attention to either her tennis ball, or a squeaker toy. She would also work for very high value treats once she got past the initial entrance of the dog.

I decided to use these secret weapons to my advantage, and every time she looked at another dog (whether she locked eyes on him or not) I would squeak the toy and/or toss her the tennis ball. I did this in the different pet stores around town a couple times a week for three weeks. While there was improvement, there were so few dogs in the store while we were there, it was more distraction training than reactivity training. Also, we were going to be moving 45 minutes from town soon, and I knew that it was going to be much harder to get her out multiple times a week, so I wanted to take full advantage of the 10 days we still had living in town. So I decided to try taking her to the dog park, were there were more likely to be other dogs, but staying as far from the actual fenced in area with the dogs as possible. This was the ticket to success! She was able to pay attention to me if we were really far from the dogs, and so I would just throw the tennis ball over and over, and squeaking the little toy if she started to focus in on the the dogs on the other side of the field. I found her threshold of attention, where if she went any closer, she would have a hard time staying focused on me and the ball, so we just stayed right within it, so that she was able to be successful. 

I decided to challenge myself with a 10 day challenge: get Kenzie out and around other dogs every single day for 10 days straight. This is how it has gone so far:

Day one:
Dog Park, whining and focusing on dogs in dog park if she got 200ft from fence. 

Day two: 
Pet Store, saw 2 dogs, the first dog she barked at and got all stiff, but recovered when I squeaked the toy. We continued to work in the store for about 30 minutes and then saw another. She got stiff but I squeaked the toy soon enough for her not to bark.

Day three:
Dog park, was able to focus up to 200ft from fence. Did not want to go within 150ft of the fence to get the ball. Up to this point, it felt like there had been no progress.

Day four:
Dog park, was able to focus up to 50ft from the fence, and willingly went up to the fence and touched noses with another dog through the fence, without getting defensive or nervous! This was a breakthrough; obvious improvement.

Day five:


Day six:
Dog park, she was able to focus up to 100ft, but that was because there was a dog whining at the fence at her. She did not bark or get defensive, she just had a hard time focusing. There was another dog in the same field as us, his owner was also throwing the ball for him. We stayed pretty far from them, but she at no point got tense or growly, which is wonderful. She even tried a couple of times to go play ball with them, which was great. I want her to want to, even though I'm not going to let her at this point.