Saturday, January 17, 2015

Finally a free weekend!

Don't shoot the dog!

I have under a project a book- Don't shoot the Dog. This is a book written by Karen Pryor. She is one the founders and firsts trainer to use operant condition in animal training. I have read a lot of her books and articles. These are really a eye opening text in animal training. Her multiple examples about positive training from animal and human world just makes you wonder how isn't this become every day thing all over the world? With her examples she has challenge me also think how I train and how to find the answers to my training problems. I can only recommend her books to anyone that owns an animal.

Training ob with Freya

This morning we did some training with laying down. Freya is so sharp minded dog that I have decided to make her keep her head down in long stays. This project has been started in living room and I'm now starting to take it different environments. She has starting to be pretty good at it. Now we just need to built duration.

I just read last night to the new rules in Ob that will be coming in August. So Freya and I made a training to learn the new jump. This was much much easier than the jump before. We train the jump set up that we will have in open and beginner class. Here are videos from both training's in ob:



Agility with both girls

We also trained little bit of lapturn with Freya. My first goal was to make her come to me to get a reward. Then we made to whole thing. After we did the whole thing I saw that she was jumping head high. Freya got her eye on me and not to the jump. At this point I put a toy behind the jump to make her focus more lower. This worked pretty well. Although we needed to do few tries to make concentrate to the task and not to toy. But in the end she did super! Watch to jump technique difference from the video.

Pixie did the same lap turn challenge. Her hardest part was to come to me for a treat. She just went and said I know what I need to do. :D This was a good training to make her listen to me again. After little jump turn training we did the wave challenge from Italy and other wave distraction. Now more writing here are our videos from today:




That's all for now!!!

MLPF

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Reaction training continues and super healing... Related??

Freya is getting relaxed

I can't be any happier!! We have done now about 1 week of reactions training. This has been work of desensitizing and counter-conditioning. Freya has done super! She has become more relaxed. Our out coming from doors and car has been changed to situations that are in-control and in relaxed stage. Our work is not yet been done but I have really seen to power of positive reinforcement in changing behavior. Just love it!! I can only tell that if you have a problem in your dogs behavior research for a professional animal trainer that uses only positive reinforcement. Thank Kaisa again!!

Ob training

Freya and I went to train ob with Tiina and Jaime on Thursday. First I had an very wild puppy but in the end we got really nice tasks done. Freya did some speed work with a box and afterwards some position training in the box. We had had a long brake from box work so she had a little trouble of getting it again. Also we did some stop in healing. This has  been a bit of problem task. Freya doesn't stop fast enough. We worked to stop by me walking backwards and giving her cue. She improved a lot but we have to do more training to make her confident of doing a high speed stop. Last we training healing with distraction. Freya was really cool! She just changed all her focus to me when distractions started to happen. I wonder, do I have already help from our reactions training? Has that changed better focus to me?? It really doesn't matter I have done something right with this little ob puppy!!! :D :D :D

Agility with both girls

It was an eye opening training to see how different dogs I have. Pixie has been coming back from training brake and I had a plan to make course training with her. First of all she had lost her brakes - so lots of rewarding of collecting if asked to slow down. Second our old problem of knocking down pars was present and needed to be addressed. In the end we made clear and fast run but we have few issues to work with before Pixie will be going back to competition arenas.

Freya in the other hand showed her agility skills again. I raised the bars to 50 cm for the first time. She dropped first two bars and took it from the beginning again that made it the last bar that she dropped during the training session. We also worked on a lap turn. This went ok but I could see that she will need basic work with this handling maneuver. I haven't done the basic training well enough. Also we had a little issues of should she stay in 2on2off position after seesaw. It needed few tries and finally she got the idea that she needed to wait my release cue. All this was made a little bit more difficult because seesaw was against a wall. Yet again Freya got it perfectly in the end. This training session was a good reminder that when working with young dogs it's sometimes better go back to kinder garden to be able to go forward again.

That's all for now!! Happy training for everyone!!

MLPF

Sunday, January 11, 2015

3 day training brake is over.

Reaction actions under control

Freya has been training with Kaisa's instructions to control her reactions. I have been rewarding on every target she starts to stare at. The goal is to make her scary or new targets good things and in the end to make her leave them. We have been taken walks to Piikkiƶ downtown get multiple repeats. We have seen other dog, people with different vehicle, children, different sounds, shopping carts etc. With easy target like people she already takes contact to my when see notices a new person in sight. With harder target like a dog, I need be ready rewards her longer time. It's now pretty easy to tell when she is ready to go closer or if we need to take some distance to keep control and right mood. This has been a easy task but the help to her re-activity is a huge. Also she has start to work for after seeing distraction. This really helps in sports like ob. Still some work to do but we on a right path.

Running dogwalk with Freya

This morning we went to take few repeats with the dog walk. Goal was to take forward cue in use and also to train turnings. Freya has just superb!! She got the forward cue right away and speed was amazing! I rewarded her after she took one jump straight ahead from the dog walk. Next was a turning cues. This training went really well. She still need some confidence to make the turn really well but she has the idea of them really well. In this training I also rewarded after a jump that was on the turning line. Overall Freya did really good job. Soon we have to start doing the dog walk in a course training. Time really flyes and my baby grows to be a young sport dog <3 <3

Pixie ends her 5 week rest period

It has been ages since Pixie has done agility. I wanted to keep her 5 week total brake from training. We have had a pretty intense competition season behind us. I was really tired and so was Pixie. Today we went to do agility after a long time. I can only say that I had really for got how fast she is. Pixie just flied and she was so happy and hot! We will need some course training before I will enter us to a competition. I need get back to her rhythm. This will be fun! I have missed to feeling of a little chaos in the agility course.

That's for now! Beautiful winter days to everyone!

MLPF

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Our sponsor for this season 2015 Acana and Orijen

Our sponsor season 2015

I can't thank enough to able work with Acana and Orijen dog foods and SLN import. My dog will test and report in the coming year how these super foods will work with three totally different dog. Louise as senior dog, Pixie as active competition dog and Freya as young teenager. All of them will have a different demands in nutrition. Also they have different needs in different times during this season. This will be a very exciting year!


Pixie and Freya went to see Piira

We go regularly to osteopathy Leena Piira. Today both girls had some issues. Pixie and a little stiff in the hips and neck. Freya had stiffness on her rip cage and hips. So we will have three total rest days and then we will start a work with Freyas inner muscles by taking her to forest to do different pace work. Her body has grown but now we have job to make it even stronger. It will be a challenge because she just loves to run and run really fast. The walk part will be our biggest work.

Reactions to control

Freya and I also went to see Kaisa Hilska to get help to her responsiveness. Freya has a problem that she barks easy at a single new person or a dog that comes to her sight. I have done so far a counter-conditioning. This has worked ok but her state of mind has been still very stiff and high alert. Her wrong mental state has giving problems in the hardest situations. So I needed help to get her calm and relaxed. Kaisa gave me a lot homework but I could see a big difference in her work already when we did work at her farm. Our goal was to make Freya relax and look and observe a scary object in peace. I can tell when she sniffed a horse from its nose, I was just totally sold. We have a big work in head of us but I saw a light in the end of the tunnel to make her more relaxed. Thank you Kaisa!!!!!

That's all for now! We will have now three days of relaxation or at least for the dogs. I have still a goal that need sweaty sports. :D :D :D

Yours MLPF

Monday, January 5, 2015

Freya takes ob seriously

Head down

Last few day we have concentrated our work on obedience with Freya. I have finally taken on project of making her keep her head down while on staying task. This has been taught with shaping. I first rewarded a head down movement and then I started to wait for longer time that she kept her head down. During this training I ended up making to problems. First one was a movement that dived forward when she went to head down position. Second have been a smelling of the ground. This problem probably has come from my rewarding her down and sometimes dropping a treat in front of her.

All problems are solvable so now I have kept modifying her work and I have been able to also take distractions with the training. First I just moved little steps and then moved my body in different way. Then changed all this to my side because this is the position she need to be able to do this trick. At this point I can go around her and she will keep her position. At this point I have used a lure reward to keep her focus to the front of her. Freya has really gone miles forward in just a few days. I usually have made two training session per day - one in the evening and one in the morning.

Mark cone training

In Finland we will have new ob rules in 1.8.2015. This will bring a new breeze to this sport and gives nice new tricks to teach. One of the things that will have new meaning is mark cone. There will be many new things that a dog need to do near it. One of the cool thing is sit-down-stand positions after a mark cone. This will be part of a jump retrieve in the highest class. Also dog needs just go around a mark cone and come back. This means it has a little bit different role than in old rules where the dog only needed to know stop at the mark cone.

Yesterday I trained with Freya a marking of a mark cone and going around it. With marking I mean that dog need to look at the mark cone from my cue. This helps the dog concentrate to the up coming task. I reward the dog form looking at a mark cone so that I can give this task a cue. Then when its ready the dog just turns its look for few seconds to find the cone if give the cue. Freya picked up this cue in few takes. I also use this cue to mark the right cone for the dog. This part I make stronger by making a cone circle where I turn to a new cone after every try. Freya did this gone circle training superb. She didn't even remember the last cone. Pixie had a problems of giving up the cone that she got reward from last time. This is just one of training ways to making the dog understand better the meaning of the mark cone.

Retrieve

Freya has retrieve ready as whole task but I have now started to make each part of it better. She has already really fast running speed to a dumbbell but her return speed is a little slower so we have work on it with speed retrieves. This means that as soon as she takes the dumbbell I ask her run to a toy. This has helped a bit. I got a tip from Tarja that she might have too much thought into the dumbbell so my next goal is make her run with the dumbbell. I have planned to make her run with in a agility tunnel, around mark cone etc. I hope this will give her more confident with it so that she can run faster with it. Freya need also repeats with the return. I have to decide will she come to straight to my left side or around me. Both ways ok. Now I just have make it decision which is better for us.

That a little bit about our obedience training lot to go but I hope to enter her to trial this spring under the old rules. I want her to get experiences in different trial places.. We will see how far we will go with ob.

Yours MLPF

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Freya 1 year old

Time has really gone super fast!! One year has gone when I watched from web-tv how Freya was born. It was a really exciting project to get a puppy from abroad. Lots of little things more to do than when you get a puppy from your home country. Freyas breeder Jane made this process really easy and it cool get see them grow whole time. Freya got my eye from 4 weeks old and on and she was all the things I has seen from the video, when I went to see her in Denmark.

Our first year has had its bumps but it has also thought me a lot about dogs yet again. She has a really tough growing time and she needed physiotherapy to keep herself in balance. In the end everything came together pretty nicely and Freya became a strong young girl. She also took me into a world sheep herding. This was a totally new thing to me and lucky for me Freya has been a naturally talent. So we have some road on that area to go. We will see where it will take us.

Agility has been to goal to been our number one sport. She has been trained very little but she has turned out to be an natural talent in this sport too. It sometimes seems like Freya has gene built in that says how to react and do agility. She has been very easy to train and she is very very light to handle. Speed has growing at same space that she is sure what is wanted of her. No more talking and here is our training session from yesterday:



Here is also pics from today:






That's for now!!! We will how she grow to be competition dog. We will start first from OB and next autumn she make her first run in agility if everything goes as planned.

MLPF

Friday, January 2, 2015

Who is Freya - a little summary what I have learned so far.

A dog that really thinks
I have faced now a new challenge in my training carrier.  Freya has proven to be a dog that really thinks what she is doing. This shows in few different ways when you train with her. First of all Freya learns really fast and always thinks before she does everything. Her thinking also makes sometimes really slow because she wants do everything right from first time on. Also when she learns something she wants stick with it. For example healing has been started on side position and today I trained coming to healing position from laying down position. Freya had hard time to come to me with healing cue. She needed lots of rewards to even react to healing cue. So she need lots of variations in keep her mind open and really listen what I say. Of course this one of reason was that this was her first time but sometimes she just thinks and not make any tries to change her behavior. This is a new thing. Pixie and Louise are dogs that do things first and then think. :D 
Her thinking also shows in agility. Every time I have taught her a new obstacle or handling maneuver she has done everything really slow. Freya has built up the speed gradually after she has been sure what I ask her to do. This has been a new experience for me. Pixie has always done everything in high speed. So I have had to wait the speed to come to her doing. Freya thinking might make her slow also when we start compete. I assume that she will need time get used to new environments and also to new obstacles. On the other hand I hope that she will take her time to learn to do things right before high speed so that she doesn't for example drop bars. This has been Pixie problems as she has always think that speed is everything for this problem I can take half of the blame.

Freya has opened a new window to world of border collies. She more shepherd type on bc. She is reactive and sensitive but also very quick learner. Her sensitivity has been also good and bad thing. This makes super easy to handle in agility but also sensitive react on my temperament. This will a learning route for me to become even more calm when we train and also I need learn how play with her more gently. Freya has also taken me to a new world on sheep herding. Here I have seen her hard headed and super focused. Herding world is something I want learn more about. I need learn more about bc herding side so that I can understand better my sensitive dog. Herding is the reason that many Border collie is sensitive dog. When you have herd of sheep you will learn a totally different side of your dog and its abilities.  
That's a little bit what have come to mind on our journey with Freya. This is again nice opportunity to become better trainer again. This is on going process to understand what kind of dog Freya really is.
That's for now!
MLPF