So this was an odd one for the books...I cannot really say what happened, but we didn't seem to find a good rhythm...we started at the top of the bowl, so I anticipated a little deviation and confirmation on Mila's part and it was okay(ish). The track turned at the woods and went about 25 steps before turning into the woods. We entered the woods a bit off the track and didn't really recover from that. For now I'll chalk this one up to 'just not our day...' The day was a bit warmer (near 50) than it had been so perhaps that was a factor.
This was a bit of a mixed bag - first three starts were good. Right as we were starting the fourth one, someone was firing a gun in the distance so I had to do some treat tosses to get her going and then after the turn, partway down the track she encountered an area she did not want to walk through at all. Something there was aversive to her...then once we got going again she stopped a few feet from the article and I had to again encourage her...
Tracks were: ~1.10; 1.39; 1.45; 2.08
(will post maps and if I can get it loaded, video later)
Mila has a low threshold for certain environmental stimuli…sadly, barking dogs is one of those and this class featured The Hound of the Baskervilles (the only thing missing was Holmes skulking about in his trench coat and deerstalker)…seriously though, I was so lucky to have this happen in class (although you can imagine I didn’t necessarily feel that in the moment 😂). If I hadn’t had Judi there this likely would not have turned into such a good training session with Mila!
This will show many great lessons that you can glean (my pain will be your gain😁)…Judi will likely comment on the good stuff (you’ll hear her remind me about loopy training and you can see in Mila when my timing is better vs too late). I’ll mention a few other things too:
Notice that when Judi steps closer, I generally start making better decisions. And yes, it’s in part because she’s talking me through it m, but also, though you may not be able to tell in the video, I feel a little more confident with her there and reinforced to continue (hmm, wonder why they sometimes want us closer to our dogs😁). I wish I had walked up the line sooner. Instead you see I had to make the choice to step up when she wasn’t tracking. In that moment though I felt like it was the lesser of two evils.
You’ll see my handling behaviors degrade under the pressure of the situation and you can tell from Mila’s behavior when I’m handling better vs worse. Notice when Judi reminds me about steering and a few seconds later I step behind Mila and she returns to track.
Thanks so much to Judi for getting me through that and the classmates being patient too! Mila is appreciative too 😁.
This was a great learning outing - track was aged a bit longer than we had been working, but it was well reinforced, etc so wasn't worried. Was pleased in light of wind and age at how she did and the learning moments...
Things to consider as handler and if Judi or Mary Ann have insights, I'd love them!
Wind is clearly a factor for Mila (saw this again when I practiced Fri, Dec 5 - will post that one next). Are FD better than scuffs in wind since the scent gets blown around so much and all the scuffed scent is going everywhere or vise versa?
Why is a neighboring track sometimes more 'compelling' than the track we are meant to follow? I've seen this a few times in class with Mila...need to unravel this a bit more maybe.
What does the LOS I sometimes see before an article mean to me as the handler (saw with article on leg 2 and seen it before - Judi pointed it out to me and so I keep an eye out for it now)? How can I use that information better? How can I separate it from LOS at a turn and is that necessary to do in terms of what I need to do as handler?
Something I'm really liking is when she's tracking her tracking behavior is getting stronger and she's getting confidence back. I didn't like that I moved a bit more than I'd have liked in this one..
Water: 1. Offered @ car and drank readily; 2. Offered @ leg 2 articled - denied; 3. Offered after overshooting turn and drank readily (yay!) and I think it really helped her.
Loved the super restart after leg 2 article!! And really liked that she used the article to triangulate back to the track as we kept getting pulled to the right of the track. So glad Mary Ann picked that one to put food in as it reinforced that behavior.
