Until last week, Lilly and I had not gone to a group class since June 22. That’s 5 long months of slogging through our behavior modification work alone. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, however, I had major turkey on the brain, so we braved the drive to Boulder and joined some long-time compatriots for a group class/hike. Here’s how it went. …
Last week, I finally got brave enough to email neighbors/friends to ask them to play the “stranger” in Lilly’s people desensitization work. As I’ve mentioned before, this is particularly tough due to our somewhat remote location. Of the 16 people I asked, 4 people volunteered and even scheduled an encounter right away. So, first of all, our most sincere THANKS to Sheila, Heather and Patrick, and Carol. Here’s how it went:
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While chatting earlier this week with my friend JoAnn, whose lab (MACH2) Chaos has moved from #29 to #14 in the country, I realized a point of progress. Let’s call it the Three-Step Rule. …
In our ongoing efforts to resume Lilly’s behavior modification, which got sidetracked by her rattlesnake bite to the face Labor Day weekend (and weeks of prez campaign work), we conned Tom once again into playing the “stranger” in our training scenarios. Sometimes Tom’s creativity and independent spirit overtake our work.
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Our friend Hilary, who was Lilly’s first trainer at the shelter, emailed me a link to these videos from someone she knows through a group of “Truly Dog Friendly” trainers. The 2 videos (about 9 minutes each) show a Boston Terrier named Humbug learning to put his toys away. It begins with a regular game of fetch, then Suezanne M. Law from Sympawtico shapes the behavior into something new. Rather than a clicker and treats, she uses a marker word and the toy, but you get the idea. …
While it’s tempting to dress Lilly up and post photos for Halloween, I won’t put her through the drama. Instead, I’ll share just one interesting experiment I did this weekend with Lilly’s training.
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I’m sorry to report we had a couple of setbacks this week. Here are the challenges we faced. …
We continue to struggle with our work exposing Lilly to people in a controlled way. Because we live in a somewhat remote area, because it everyone is busy, it’s hard, bordering on impossible to find participants to take part in daily training sessions (even though they only last about 10 minutes). So, I’ve resorted to creating a cast of thousands at home.
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Super stressful week. Not much time to work with Lilly. Still need to find people to do the 13 tasks in the training protocol, BUT, here’s some insight into her experience and reactions to a family gathering last Saturday. …
I tried to stick with Part 2, the advanced SIT-STAY section of our behavior modification plan, but boredom won out. So, this week, I began Part 3, which includes people doing 13 tasks. Essentially, they approach me and Lilly in a variety of ways. Three vignettes from this week’s work. Only one follows the rules. …
