The Project...A complete revolution...

With the dog walk back in action mid Jan 2012 - I thought time for me and Rivi to try it out. But as some had predicted Rivi's newly retrained behaviors had not transferred. So I thought work through it, but I was not convinced. Too much stuttering and not enough running...not enough success...its as if the retraining since Oct 11 had never occured. There was no generalisation of the learning on the carpet or the plank.

I will confess, at this point I reached a bit of a low, how would I be able to support Rivi in my goals? So I decided to put aside instructions from the on line course. So basically: -
1] I decided to listen to myself
2] out went the manners minder
3] back in as the conditioned (secondary) reinforcer of me saying 'Yes' and pairing it with her beloved cool kong and me playing with her = The premack principle (And initially she did look back for me to throw the toy. But she kept moving, which is what we need to achieve)
4] plank balanced on table between medium and large dog height. Not elegant, but does the job
5] we have trained every day where possible for 5 minutes

Two weeks later on the 13/02/12 -  I have reached an eureaka moment. Rivi 'thundered*' the plank and the half of an aframe. I don't wanna be all excited, but I can't help it. It could happen again.



Since starting 'The Project' last October, I have gained more in two weeks than the previous four months. Some detour!!!! Then on Thursday, the 16th I realised I am now training her as I retrained Zev last summer!

How many light bulb moments is one person allowed to have??? It is very early days. Watching the video, it shows we have a way to go to achieve the ultimate performance criteria, but 'by jove' at last 'The Project' is moving forward.

The thunder* as I call it, is when the dog literally thunders (drives) down the plank, definate and swift, and clearly targets the contact zone at speed, whislt driving through.

The Nuts strikes 12 :-)

Would you believe it my brilliant most handsomest dog in the whole world is 12. Well actually he was 12 on Sunday. But I had a doughnut moment of a thought this morning that went like this:

"..........Its valentines, Mr Nuts birthday must be coming up, f--kety f--k it was Sunday. Oh doughnuts, I missed it. I never miss Nutsey’s birthday. .....".

So it official I am crap at birthdays, genuinely. So to anyone who I miss and should have remembered. Believe me it was never intentional ;-)

The picture is of Nuts playing his most favourite game of tug, with me when out walking last weekend. How blessed am I, to have him by my side :-)

The heap has gone...



The heap has gone - Jan 2012

As last the eyesore of derelict compost heap that seemed to have all manner of uncomposty things such as broken bricks, metal and plastics has gone. The man and his digger have done a good job.The guys will be pleased as they have even more room to play in once its all sorted. We really need to decide where we want the veg plot, but I think perhaps that will get sorted once I finish studying.

Now we just need the snow and ice to disappear.... as Rivi and Dixie are not convinced by my explanation that it is just too cold to hang about outside.