1/52 52 Weeks of Abbey

Abbey's first shot in 52 weeks of Abbey. 52 Weeks Challenge!

Adventures, Amazement, and Awww!!

Today, it was a beautiful Saturday morning with the temperature topping out at about 65 degrees and the skies an ever beautiful blue. Abbey and I had a date with the Dog Scouts to go hiking in Matheson Hammock park, right across the street from Fairchild Botanical Gardens. We were joined by our fellow scouts...or, I should say our fellow current scouts. The group has changed lately since I last talked about the Troupe. We now have 2 big black labs, Oso and Rookie, and a Golden Retriever, Daisy. Of course, my wonderful Abbey wasn't phased by that! She loves her new large friends! So there we went, hiking through the bust and taking a dip in the pond. Afterward it was time for class. Time to work on the important pet parent, being a better dog scout, making sure our dogs are the best behaved pooches out there...yeah yeah, that stuff.

Abbey, the wonderful and perfect, was tested to her wits end with...SUPERVISED SEPARATION!! Well, we have been trying to work on this but I only had one session so far. I wasn't expecting fireworks, trust me. I really had been expecting her to go completely APE actually. So I left her in the hands of my friend and told her to sit and I walked away to go and hide behind a tree. Silence...WHaaa?! I peaked from behind the tree. There was my little girl staring off into the spot where Mommy left, being quiet and waiting hopefully for me to get back. WOW!! No barking, whining, screaming...was this my dog?! I came back sooner than expected because I thought to reward her for the amazing behaviour. Afterward, I walked away again. Yes, again. I went farther away this time and hid under another tree where I was sure she wouldn't see me. Once again, WOW!! She sat there quietly again, staring off into the distance just waiting for mommy to come back. Nice and quiet, nice and calm. GOOD GIRL, Abbey, we may just be on our way to that CGC.

The "Awww" moment. When we were discussing Dog Scout duties in the grass and all the dogs started rolling over in the grass for belly rubs. =)

That's all for NOW!

And Now We Run!

Running Contacts Practice

Graduating to the NEXT LEVEL!

First we cut up the tasty treats!

Then we put them in a bowl!

And then we did some focus exercises with the treats on my lap. (Toy retrieve)

Mmmm...and then we put them on the floor with no way for the handler to deny the access. And that's HAM!!

Were we successful in maintaining handler and obstacle focus?! YOU BETCHA! The first couple times she did "consider" the food. She sniffed it and ran by in our first rep. This continued for 2 reps and then she began to ignore the food. If at any point Abbey goes all out for the food I do interupt her. Why? Because Abbey is an outright beast when it comes to the consumption of food. One second it's there and the next second you might as well slap yourself because it's gone.

Here is the video of Abbey and our 3rd session. All of the videos Abbey and I are making ARE unlisted so if you want to see any of the training prior to the big results video at the end, you will NEED to read the blog. THANK YOU!

Documenting my findings, in HD

Here is a video of a training session I had with Abbey this morning. I quickly took a video with my iPhone so I had some of these sessions documented. If you notice, Abbey is COMPLETELY naked...yep. She was having a skin issue, so we are letting the air get to it and are going to re-grow in that lovely coat she has. I usually DO NOT trim Abbey that low anymore because she has a very nice mid-length coat, but you know...doggie first.

Now, this is a video of Abbey performing the behaviours that I described in the previous post. Leaving the cookies alone. In our next session we are actually going to upgrade the value of the treats, BUT Abbey is just as enticed by this boring kibble.

ENJOY!

Abbey proofing and focus!

2012 Rehab and Retrain: Handler and Dog Team Effort

Everyone who reads our blog knows that Abbey and I have had a pretty rough year in 2011. While Abbey is still the best little dog that the shelter could have turned out on a Christmas night (anyone who doesn't get it, feel free to ask), she turned 7 on the 15th of December and I not only want to get started on more consistent strength building exercises, but diet, and joint supplements as well. Of course, these are all technical things that I consider part of her "rehab" before we start trialing again. The exciting part of the beginning of this coming year is going to be the training. Back in November, I began teaching Abbey how to keep the majority of her overall focus on ME. Abbey is very heavily food motivated and sometimes will not accept playing with a toy. I wanted to change this behaviour. I also wanted to make sure she stayed more focused on the tasks I was giving her NOT on the food that was about to come. Well, after about 6 weeks of on and off training, Abbey has had a MAJOR breakthrough.

TODAY: December 29th, 2011

I took Abbey into the backyard with a bowl filled with cookies and kibble, a holiday tugging wreath, and my car keys. I know that the car keys part sounds really odd right about now, but trust me there's a reason. Abbey has been learning how to retrieve, so I was testing her focus on her task by having the bowl of "treats" on the floor while I asked her to perform specific tasks. Mind you, Abbey and I had practiced variations of this, but this is the FIRST time that the treats were within her sight and where she could reach them. After retrieving the car keys several times without going for the treats and actually waiting for me to reward her, I decided to move on to something harder. I played the bang it game! But Abbey's reward wasn't the bowl of treats it was her wreath toy...or so it would seem. At the beginning of training this behaviour I was using toys as a catalyst for Abbey's #1 reward...FOOD! But the overall enthusiasm for said "catalyst" has grown exponentially. Abbey banged the teeter and jumped up to tug the toy with vigor and excitement several times with the bowl of treats RIGHT beside her. When I thought we had tugged enough I would say "drop" and she would immediately drop the toy and I would reach into the bowl to get a treat.

Raising the overall criteria...well this part is where I knew Abbey and I were moving forward. We did a full teeter and I threw the toy with the bowl of treats right beside her. She CHASED the toy after the teeter brought it to me, we tugged for a bit, and then I said "drop" and I reached into the bowl for her treat. JACKPOT, obviously!! I repeated this 3 times. Abbey nailed it all three times, chasing the toy and bringing it back with enthusiasm (by the way, the teaching of the retrieve also helped build that behaviour). I added the tunnel, which is the only other obstacle I have, and Abbey performed stupendously! She took the teeter and tunnel, came to me to TUG like a monster and then of course I rewarded her with her ULTIMATE currency. I am so pleased that I took the time to train this!

Abbey has also been getting a lot more exposure. I have been taking her out to the park across the street. This is mostly to help her little (almost completely diminished) reaction issue. I took her out on Tuesday and she actually enjoyed her time running in the field with a little baby! They were like two peas in a pod!

Now, I have spent all this time talking about Abbey's rehab and re-training, but I haven't mentioned anything about mine. I also realize most of you probably don't even care about my part in this BUT the title does say handler and dog "team effort." So what am I doing? Well it isn't nearly as much as what Abbey is partaking in. I am losing weight, working on better stamina, and being a more involved handler with my dog. Have I not been involved with her? No, I wouldn't say that, but I vow to be MORE involved than I have been. This dog deserves a lot more in my opinion. Plus I also vow to be a more patient and understanding pet parent.

There you have it! Abbey's amazing training session and details on our rehab efforts! Hope you come back to read our blog again soon as there will be very few YT videos this year. Most of them won't even be up until the very, very end of 2012. Your entire All-American fix will come from the All-American blog ;o). Come read about US!

Hails to 2012 "Improving the Self"

Car Trouble?!

No, I am not referring to the engine or transmission, I am referring to transporting my dog. Today I decided to do a little experiment to see why Abbey has issues with riding in the car. At one point these problems had gone away and then maybe towards the beginning of this year became apparent again. For a long while we enjoyed nice leisurely rides with Abbey in the car simply sleeping her way up and down the highway. Now, I have a dog that's so stressed she thinks the world is going to end just by hopping into the back seat. Since this behviour cannot become a constant, I decided to start desensitizing Abbey to getting into the car and hanging out in the car in situations I feel she is feeling the discomfort. At first she was so nerve racked she wouldn't even take a treat for being in the car. After a couple minutes of coaxing I decided I would allow her the freedom to exit the car and then see if she wouldn't make the choice to come into the car with me herself since there would be a wealth of yummy treats involved.

After another few minutes, Abbey decided hopping into the car wasn't so bad. I decided that perhaps the fact that it was blistering hot in the car everytime we went to get into it, part of Abbey's discomfort was the heat. Now, I don't have a garage I can park the car into to reduce this effect, BUT what I can do is start the car before Abbey gets into it so that it's already cooled off. Now, adding all these factors together, I did play a little game to get Abbey revved and excited to jump into the car. This worked for a time, but then she ran to the door. I concluded that it was definitely just way too hot. It is a good 95 degrees outside to be sure. I didn't leave empty handed, though. I was able to assess what may work in the future to calm her and also know to use maybe a little more high value treats (real meat or cheese). I also was thinking of getting her a seat belt. This may make rides a bit easier for her to endure.

I am going to work on this training until the day of our trial...at which point I hope to have a little bit more confident Abbey.

More to Come

~All American Team