What' Catty been up to?

Catty & D'light have been busy rocking nose work -  Catty loves the game and she's very good at it. 

 

Relaxed dogs after a fun nose work class

Catty also gets to go to another fun place and she too get to work with Lori Stevens!  We do lots of great stuff like learning some great tricks, impulse control and movement exercises.

 

Recently I've decided that we need to work on "go to mat" with the goal of having Catty relax on her mat while I work with the other dogs in our home.  Catty is a busy girl and wants to be in the mix of  any traning sessions that are going on at home.  So, working on impulse control and relaxing is an important skill set for Catty.

  

While I can teach Catty to "go to mat", I wanted a sessions with Lori so that I could watch her working with Catty and video tape the work.   I get a lot out of doing training this way since Lori's skill set is light years ahead of mine.  Catty is truly one of the smartest dogs I've met.  She picks up on things very fast and she's not forgiving in training. So, if you can't keep up with her smart self there's a lot of other things for the human to work through.

 

And off we go... keeping in mind this is Catty's first interaction with the mat.  This series of video is one training session, probably about 20 minutes.  Catty is a dog that will train as long as you want to train.  You can watch her mind working and deciding what the next step is going to be.  She wants that reward and she's happy to work for it. 

 

 Lori uses the marker "yip" since a clicker is too overstimulating for Catty. Catty gets a "yip" when ever she touches the mat.  The reward is tossed away from the mat which moves Catty off the mat allowing her to decide what to do next.   As you can see she picks up the game really quickly.
 

 

 

Smart girl - Catty has figured out that with just touching her back feet on the mat, that equals a reward. She says "duh, I'm touching the mat". Catty is always looking for the quickest way to reach her goal of being rewarded.
 

 

 

We decide we want a sit and Catty quickly figures out that's what we are looking for!  Towards the end watch Catty - the treat bag has fallen onto the floor behind Lori and Catty is deciding if she wants to go for it or give Lori the sit. Knowing the sit will give her food reward - oh the decisions!!

 

 

A new twist is added - Lori standing up and the mat is moved around.  This change in the environment can throw a dog off but, Catty doesn't miss a beat!

 

 

Now we are working at duration. Wanting Catty to sit on the mat for a little bit longer.  In the first couple of seconds she was having a little trouble with the dried cod skin getting stuck.  But, no worry, she maintains duration and is ready for more! And you can see we are introducing a new word of "free".  Which is Catty's word to release her from the mat.
 

 

Catty starts of with her default trick of "sit pretty" to see if that will get her a quick reward.  This isn't what we are looking for so, no reward. Lori works very quickly with Catty to get a sit.  Again the "yips" are marking Catty sitting on the mat and for duration on the mat.  Catty throws in a "stand" to see if that will work for a reward.  Lori is quick to assess this and help Catty get back to the sit. 

And the last video. We just about have what we are looking for in this training session - going to mat, duration and Catty remaining calm.  She's still throwing in her default "sit pretty" but we can work that out.  Notice Lori's delivery of the reward as this is important in helping shape Catty into a sit not a sit pretty.  Watch Catty's tail... she loves to work!

This was a great session and I'm going to be watching these video's over and over to help with my technique.  Catty and I will continue our work on going to mat and I have no doubt we will reach our goal! 

As many of you know - you can have a great trainer who can help you a ton but, it's up to the human to do the homework to reach the goals.  I have no doubt that Catty is very excited about "our" homework and she's going to do amazing!  It will just take practice, practice and more practice.

Love my Catty girl for all she teaches me - I often laugh because when we adopted Catty, I was just looking for a walking partner that needed a loving home.  Who knew how much Catty would give me an how much she would expand my word in positive/force free training while also building deep connections with so many dogs.  A big thank you to this goofy, uber smart rattie girl!

 

We have a new foster arriving shortly so stay tuned!