Weighing the Dog Beasts

SUMMARY: How to do it?

Over the 27 years that I've owned dogs, I've kept track of their weights by picking them up, standing on the bathroom scale with them, and then subtracting my weight. Works great. As long as you don't have, just for example, say, bad back, bad knees, bad shoulders... any one of which makes it painful to hold even a mere 35-lb dog. (I seem to recall that Amber, my first dog, was over 50 lbs...  I wonder where I'd have that info recorded? Being the obsessive data-recording wonk that I am.)

I've been saying for several years now that I need to teach the dogs to get onto the scale themselves and stand there long enough to get the reading. I started once, using the scale on the floor, and realized that it's flat enough that they don't seem to get the idea of standing on it instead of walking across it.  (A dedicated trainer would work through that. I'm not that, in the last several years.) So I gave up.

But now:  Zorro has clearly gained weight. Chip's diet changed 6 weeks ago and now he's clearly losing weight.  And they've both old enough to start thinking seriously about their weight gain or loss. (Yeah, can weigh for free I think at Pet Club, but that involves driving there, taking the dogs one at a time...  yeah, no.)

Figured I needed something about the size of the scale that is elevated and sturdy for them to learn on. Couldn't think of anything all this time, but this morning my little sturdy step-stool that "holds up to 300 lbs." caught my eye. Aha!

Videotaped my *first* training session with them.  Notes:

• Have never taught them specifically to get up onto something small.
• They are both operant enough to know that, if I put something in front of them, they're expected to do something in relation to it (could be to touch it, could be to deliberately not touch it...).
• I wanted to shape this, with a little luring if needed.
• Today I use "yes" instead of a clicker to mark desired actions. (I'll check my timing--last video I did, I saw that I was late every time!)
• Both immediately went to putting their front feet on it. Marked any action that got them closer to getting and keeping both feet on.
• Back feet: Marked any movement of a back foot towards the stool. (I should have placed the camera for a side view so that these movements were visible. Oh, well.)

Results:

Easy success with Zorro, reasonable success for Chip who thinks things through much more and whose body is longer and less compact.

Next steps: Reinforce getting on; add a command; practice holding still; can I get them to sit there? switch to scale instead of stool (it's larger, so maybe easier?)...

... hang on, posting on YouTube, come back in a few  minutes...  should be up by 10:45 AM today:

Trying to be motivated: weaves

SUMMARY: After class, after New Year’s, after who knows what, but something clicked…

Zorro's agility class worked on weaves again today. We have been practicing in class off and on for however long I’ve been taking classes, since last July? So… That’s once a week, maximum, with a lot of outages on my part for one reason or another. And Z is doing fairly well today... got the spread poles all the way in (so they're no longer spread), but with 2 guides still on. We struggled a bit with that, but looking pretty darned good! But not so good for having started maybe 5 months ago! Because--

--today, while the other dog kids were weaving, I kept thinking: I taught Tika the weaves in 3 weeks. I taught Boost the weaves in two weeks. Doing it in my own backyard, because I have actual weave poles. But I have not done that with Zorro. And why not? I don't know.

Also, in class, I use treats with Zorro, because he won’t play with a toy there. This has been a problem in every class we’ve been to: He won’t even play with his Jolly Ball or his Flat Ball or his Squeaky Snake, and those are his favorites. So today I thought, I think I know how to get a dog to start playing with toys in places other than at home, such as at agility class. He sure loves playing with toys here. He seems to enjoy class, but I'm sure would enjoy it more if there were more play. So, why haven't I worked on it? I don't know.

That has been my question for the last four years: Why am I not interested in doing anything with these dogs? I mean, they’re good boys. They’re smart. They are eager. Chip worries some and Zorro gets over-eager, but they’re perfectly willing to do things with me if I actually try to do things. Oddly, for some reason, today, I thought: well, it’s a beautiful day, the weaves are right there outside the back door, let’s go home and practice some. So I went out in the yard…

...last week I dug out the old rope toys, which I've never played with with these dogs, because… For whatever reason. Today in the yard I played tug and fetch with Zorro with the rope for a bit to get him excited about it. He tried switching to his flat ball a couple of times, because it was there in the middle of the yard, but I got him back onto the rope, and then we played with that for a while. So, that’s step one on the toy parade.

I tried that with Chip, and he turned and ran away. "I don’t know what you want from me, mom, I’m stressed." So I just played with him a little bit, no toys or treats, and left it at that. (He doesn't play with toys much, even with his favorites.)

Then I started working on backchaining weave poles. I have used that in the past for training the weaves, using the hand in the collar method with a toy or treats. Which I’m not going to try to explain.

Anyway: I started backchaining at the end of the weaves with Zorro with treats for now. He didn’t quite get it at first, but he is now driving forward from the next-to-the-last pole through the last pole, which is what I want! Personally I think this is a better method for teaching them, so we'll see whether I can get all the way to the beginning of 6 weaves before class next  week.

Tried some of the same with Chip, with whom I have never done any weave poles, because… For whatever reason. With him, I also have to work on training that it’s OK for me to pull him around by his collar, nothing terrible is going to happen, whether I pull back or forward, he just needs to go along for the ride, and get treats constantly as I’m doing it. I have worked on that off and on the whole time I’ve had him. I need a lot more on and a lot less off.

And then I managed to get a very few attempts at back chaining the last two poles. He seemed a smidgen more relaxed each time.

Then I was tired all over, and it wasn’t even that much work. Reminds me of several things:

• When I taught Tika, I was 19 years younger. With Boost, maybe 15. And they were 2 years old and about 1 year, respectively, and I had been doing pretty much daily training of all kinds with both from the day they came home, with toys. Meanwhile, Zorro is 5 and a half, and Chip is 8 and a half.  
• It feels good to work confidently on something and seeing achievement quickly. That was something that appealed to me about agility originally.
• It feels good to  be tired--not exhausted or in a lot of pain--all over my body. I'm really out of shape, I'm aware of that, but I was able to do these things today. That also was something that appealed to me about agility originally.

Sometimes I think, so many years of opportunities wasted for having more fun with them and building more of a relationship with them.  And then sometimes I think, OK, for whatever reason--depression or grief or pain or training fatigue or maybe all of those, dunno, I've had lots of excuses--for whatever reason, I've needed a break. 

Not sure whether the break is over, but today was good.

Bell-Ringing Dogs

SUMMARY: A trick we've worked on occasionally.

Backfill: Dec 18, 2018

The command is "Smash".

Counter Surfer

SUMMARY: Beach Boys song: Surfer dog, surfer dog, my little surfer dog...

Little surfer, little one,
Made my heart come all undone
Do you love me, do you surfer dog,
Surfer dog, my little surfer dog?

I posted today to a dog behavior group:

OK, since [the list organizer] posted this matrix, which includes "counter surfing"--

(Graphic by Lupe Matt, used with permission.)

I'd like some suggestions on breaking that. He was three when I got him, have now had him for 9 months. I haven't had to worry about dogs taking things from counters or tabletops for many many years, and I must say that I enjoy being able to leave things out that are convenient for me--my pillbox on the table, the banana bread on the counter for easy slicing, like that. (He hasn't actually eaten any meds or shown an interest in them, but since he started taking stuff off tables/counters, I can't in good conscience leave them out any more. )

He never puts his paws up when I'm home. (Well--once, when he first got here, and I most likely did something like, "Hey! Get your feet off there!" and clapped or similar action. Don't remember.) Anyway, I thought he got the message because nothing happened for about 3 months. Then he started pulling things off the counter or table. Bag of treats that I left on the counter. Dirty napkin. Frozen-food dish that I'd left on the table when finished. Like that.

Here's one thing that I know about operant conditioning: Random reinforcers are stronger than constant reinforcers. So he occasionally finds something, thereby randomly rewarding himself, mostly likely making the counter surfing into a stronger behavior. I've been trying very hard to never leave anything with any scent or hint of food on the table (like going to Yosemite and not leaving anything that smells like food in your tent or car, so I'm used to this concept), but I still come home to muddy toeprints on the edge of the counter or table, or some papers that I left on the table that are now on the floor.

So, when I see him glancing at the counter (he never stares at it that I have seen), I might say his name and ask him for some other behavior, like Sit or Down, and reward.

But it's not stopping. And I'm not perfect and never will be (yesterday it was a used napkin on the table). And I miss being able to leave stuff out.

I had this fantasy about removing the randomness--leaving exactly the same thing out on the counter in exactly the same place day after day after day, and then one day stopping it, thinking that that would extinguish the behavior faster. But, actually, I'm not going to try that experiment. :-)

Funnyish story--over Xmas, he spent the weekend with his previous owners--man and 10-yr-old boy. I commented that Chip had started counter surfing, and the boy asked, "what's that?" and the man answered, "Remember that morning when we came downstairs and discovered Chip standing on the kitchen counter?"

So it's apparently not an entirely new behavior.

Suggestions?

---

If you want a quick explanation of why random reinforcers are stronger than constant ones, see: Intermittent Reinforcement.

Training and Agility Thoughts

SUMMARY: What to do, what to do.

Periodically I get these wild ideas, like, "I should actually train Chip some useful things," or "I'd like to start teaching Chip to do agility," or "How about if I get me and Boost back into shape to actually do agility ourselves," or "I think I'll sell everything I own including the house, retire, buy a camper van, and drive around the country for 20 years," or "I think I'll take a nap."

[Oh crud--as I'm typing this, hearing some fireworks outside somewhere in the distance. Poor Chip is working hard on stressing out again.]

Anyway, I somehow found a reserve of enthusiasm and energy on New Year's Day and worked on tugging with Chip. I want him to latch on and not let go until told to. I introduced him to the Milker Toy in the yard and he seemed to like it. (The rubber milking attachment from a milking machine. Softer rubber, flexible, easy to grip for them and me.) I've worked with him all along for what *I* want, which is that if I touch his face or body, he should just keep going. He's having to overcome either a natural let-go reaction to that or else good training for his first 3 years of life in a family with a young boy.

I also dinked around a bit with getting him to go between two weave poles, but all that training (tugging and weave poles) made him stress out quickly.

So far to go--and then I was pooped and had to sit for a while, plus hard on my damaged back.

Still, for a good 15 minutes or so, we trained and played, trained and played.

But still not sure whether I'm going to do agility. This last week at the park, I thought I'd try jogging a bit to see what running felt like, and it scares me about putting that jarring and up-down compression on my spine. So dunno.

However, have committed to attend one agility trial in January and one in February, just to work and probably take photos. Not entering Boost. But one is out of town, so will take the dogs anyway.

We'll see where this all leads in the new year.