Yoshi Training Diary - March 2004
By Ellen Clary
(reverse date order)
Feedback is welcome, but due to spam there is no mail link on
this page. Emails addressed to yoshi or ellen at this domain
(frap dot org) will reach me.
Wed Mar 31 (pm)
Took him to Power Paws. He did
pretty well hanging out in the X-Pen, though got a bit freaked when he
heard the sheep or horses coming closer in the pasture adjoining the
agility field - he's seen sheep and horses before, but it was dark and
they were just out of sight. So I put him in his crate in the
truck.
I however did poorly in class and I think it's from lack of
sleep. Yoshi sleeps through the night usually but when he came
here he was on East Coast time and waking me up at 4:30. Then
Central (5:30). We're now on Mountain (6:30) which is quite close
to reasonable since I usually get up at 7 but a week and a half of this
(with the occasional 2am foray too) is starting to add up and my
reaction time is slow.
My classmates agree that he's really a Red and White Schipperke.
Especially with that high pitched non-corgi bark and the small ears.
He understands "off" pretty much - at least in relation to the bed (which we're reserving for Cali only for now).
Wed Mar 31 (noon)
Tire. Yoshi will run through the tire when I through his tug toy
through it. Sometimes when he would pick it up in the sun he
would turn around and run back through it to the shade. Once or
twice he would run through it while I was carrying the toy and then
threw it to him after he went through it. I'll work on this
tomorrow.
Front. Looks pretty good He's offering it a lot.
Played around some with running around in the yard with him running beside me. He liked that.
Worked on "here" with the distraction of him chewing on his toy.
Amazingly he will leave his toy to come see me. I was sort of
hoping that he'll figure out that bringing me the tug toy is a great
way to get it opened, but that didn't happen (yet).
Made the teeter board slightly unstable with a very low PVC
pivot. Doesn't bother him and in fact he seeks it out (Elizabeth
said he liked to climb.) I think I'm going to use "plank" for the
teeter.
Did the dog's toenails also. I was just planning on doing Cali's,
but Yoshi seemed interested and willing so I did his too. Night
and day from last time. No drama queen at all. Both
rewarded with Natural Balance Lamb flavor - Yoshi seems to love
this. Bought some chicken for then, but haven't cooked it yet
(only takes about 5 minutes in the microwave so won't take long to cook
it and cut it up..)
Power Paws class is tonight and I'll bring him along. This should
be entertaining. Have to remember to bring the X-Pen and soft
crate but I may just put him in his car crate after he's met everyone.
I may have to cut his food since he's getting so many treats.
Right now it's 3/4 cup 2x a day of Innova Adult. I'll try 3/4 in
the morning and then 1/2 at night.
Wed Mar 31 (am)
I was giving Cali some carrots this morning and I gave Yoshi
one. He walked out of the room with it and I continued to feed
some more to Cali. He then reemerged a moment later still
carrying the carrot. Silly boy drops it on the floor to look at
it right by Cali who snake-like, snatches it up immediately. Boy
he sure looked surprised/stunned, but he didn't react poorly which is
nice.
I need to come up with non "T" words that I like for the table and the teeter.
Possibilities:
Table: hup, box, bench, mesa
Teeter: sea-saw, plank, tilt (though it's a T word)
Tues Mar 30 (pm)
Worked more on "front" and the tire ("ring").
Started added the cue word "front" when he sat in front of me looking
up. He's starting to sit further away from me than I'd like so I
should have waited for him to figure out that he needed to be closer,
but I wasn't patient enough with that, so I encouraged him closer and
then clicked him which seems to be fine. True clicker trainers
would say I shouldn't do that as it's just training him to get it wrong
the first time, but I never claimed to be a true clicker trainer and
he's a puppy.
Did more with the tire, he's still sound sensistive as he didn't like
it when the tire jostled some. He probably thought I was going to
drop it on his head again. He'll go right through it if I throw
his tug n treat through it. I tried leaving it on the ground and
sending him through for it. This confused him though he did
eventually go through. I'll work on that more maybe tomorrow.
Doing a lot of incidental training on walks. We "wait" at street
corners and now that his sits are better we're starting to "sit" and
"stay" at corners as well. Also I'm calling out "left" and
"right" (more for Cali's training but maybe he'll absorb some too) as
we turn and sometimes we stop and "sniff" and then to get moving again
we "walk" or "let's go." For a short section we also ran ("run").
Tues Mar 30 (am)
I keep waiting for Cali to deck Yoshi for being pushy, but so far she's
just let him go with well spoken warnings. At first he wasn't
getting it, but today he relented some. Good thing as he was
trying to take the precious Kong out of her mouth (bad choice).
He thought better when she showed him every one of her teeth while
still holding on to the Kong.
Mon Mar 29
Time for some training.
Indoors. Got out the clicker and initially just clicked him for coming
towards me. Then looking at me. Then sitting and looking at me. Then
sitting in front on me and looking at me. Tues try putting the "Front"
cue word to it.
Outdoors. Put the tire in its new frame that lets it sit on the
ground. Tried using the clicker on the tire but he won't volunteer
going through it, but luring works. Got out his tug n treat and threw
it through it. He goes right through it to get it.
Sun Mar 28
Went early to the
Frap Fest for him to meet Cooper. After a careful introduction,
they got along immediately and started to play.
He did well during the party and was exhausted the rest of the day.
When he got tired he was getting what appeared to be a little dominate
with Cooper (growling and jumping on top on Cooper just to get him to
stop. Gave Yoshi a time out in the X-Pen which he seemed to appreciate.
He seems to do best for now when he can see the dog initially at a
distance and then work our way closer. Usually by the time we're
getting close he's pulling forward on the leash to greet the dog.
Sat Mar 27
Went to the CPE show and met some mellow big dogs like Lloyda's Frida
(Black Shepard) and Karey's Inyo (Terv). Met and played with
Gail's Pic, a not mellow, but very friendly Pyrenian Shepard. His
recall normally great disappears with the distractions of the trial
site. Hmmm, will have to work on being more interesting.
He's settling in nicely and clearly is looking for something to do.
Showed him the tire (not in the frame) and clicked him for any
attention paid to it. Accidentally dropped it on him (oops - I need three hands) though he
seems to have forgiven me.
He ran through the tunnel after seeing Cali do it 2 times. (He's used to tunnels.)
He walks on the teeter board that's sitting on the ground
Thur Mar 25
Reintroduced Rosie and Yoshi very slowly on the Alameda Marina green during the day.
Patricia held Rosie and Yoshi and I walked slowly closer and then
started walking in a circle with a decreasing radius. When we got
close to them I sat down and said hello to Rosie. He got curious and
then greeted Rosie and then they started to play. Whew.
Wed Mar 24
(No Power Paws Agility class for Cali today - Jim and Nancy are at CleanRun Camp)
He and Cali are doing fine and do well walking together.
Cali's getting a bit tired of him and appreciates his crate time.
Introduced him to the Dremmel and the electric clippers (for the fur on
his paws). What a drama queen - especially since I know that he's
had his nails done before.
Tues Mar 23
Hurricane Rosie the 1 year old energetic fluff corgi came by on Tues evening and he was growling and afraid.
Sun Mar 21
Met him again and brought him home
Had him meet Sue's Rowan (Smooth Coated Collie)
Coasted for a week just to let him get used to the environment
He's initially frightened of some dogs and some sounds particularly at night.
Cali and he are still doing ok.
Sat. Mar 20
Met him and Elizabeth at the CAT trial. What a cutie. Cali and he hit it off.