ness

:D Bully.

Hmm whitka - maybe you might have been better off asking what I don't have in my collection .

My new day 22 - wasn't happy with the original

My day 22 - not the best photo but I ran out of time as i had been off making jumps this afternoon so since everybody was bugging me for a photo my day 22 was a photo of the jump .

Pretty sure the date is now going to be the 8th of May and we are pretty sure the venue is available. Steve said somebody from there organisation should be in touch shortly with everybody who was initially placed on the email list. I will hopefully know when the emails have been posted out and shall post a notice here so that anybody who might have wanted to go on the list and who doesn't receive an email can drop me a PM and I can get them added to the list.

Looks good Rivsky .

I guess that comes down to the dogs inherent willingness to perform. It also gets back to the fact that some dogs do eventually find what they are doing to become rewarding because they have been rewarded so heavily for a particular response it in effect becomes hardwired and the external rewards became a mere byproduct of the process. Obviously to the how and when a dog will be paid for a particular task is in effect a moving boundary anyway. When a dog is learning a particular behavior they will be paid for smaller approximations of the final product. When a particular behavior is learned they might be rewarded after completing one or they might be rewarded after completing a series. Your reward point will never remain constant but will be used to reinforce what needs reinforcing at a particular moment. Are you specifically referring to a dog being rewarded for behavior X or a dog being rewarded for completing any behavior to the standard required. Probably clear as mud .

Maybe I should apologise for asking to many questions . But just one more on this bit: K9: In actual operation, I find that remote rewards that are in a fixed position & not flying or moving allow the dog to focus better on the task until the release. When the dog expects you to throw the ball, they sign track looking for the first change in bosy language that will alert them to the throw, so their major focus is on that rather than any of your goals. Wouldn't that be an issue if your only method of reward is to always throw the item. If your method of reward is variable - sometimes you go and meet the dog at the box and tug, sometimes you release them to a toy that is laying somewhere near the box - I will often stick them out when we are training and just leave toys on the ground and release her to get them when she has done as I want, sometimes you bridge and release them to come back and tug with you. Because she has had a ton of reinforcement history for jumping a jump and jumps are inherently rewarding there is always going to be motivation to come back to you. And her natural desire when she fetches a toy is to drive as hard back to me as she can anyway. All very interesting and sorry for asking so many questions.

Ptolomy.

who says I can cook regular food too - whats wrong with dessert - least we won't go hungry .

Rubystar I could have used one of your lemons tonight for my pavlova - which was also very yummy . Hmmmm just need to work out when to come . Nice to hear the toxic plants are being removed.

tlc I was standing outside on our balcony looking across the neighbours roof.

Day 21 for me - Over the Roof Top

K9: Nothing wrong with rewarding the dog in position but, it rarely comes out reinforcing the position you were happy with, but rather the position the dog receives the reward in, think about it. Oh sorry didn't clarify reward follows bridge (either clicker or verbal but mostly verbal bridge) and then reward in position. Best of both worlds I hope . I prefer better communication to act as an encourager which in time becomes a secondary reward. K9: Yep but this also tells me your dog also prefers to gain the reward away from you, this is not what I try & achieve, I want the dog to earn reward with me. Right with me. Dog couldn't ultimately care where she is rewarded as long as she is rewarded. If that was the case then she would shoot off when we get somewhere rather than stay within touching distance on the hope that she might get a chance to work. K9: Good TID means a dog is in drive only when you want them to be. - says she who's dog is presently downstairs being a pest because its to hot for her otherwise scheduled evening playing. Yep that is the thing I don't seem to get. Both of mine are on when it suits them but in different ways. My older one is only on sporadically, the younger one is pretty much on with any sideways glance in her direction. K9: If you taught a dog to send away by throwing the ball to where you want to send the dog, how to you get the dog to come back in drive?? Oh god that came out wrong - I guess I didn't spell out exactly and presumed it would be taken as given . Its not used to teach its used to reward but I will bridge and throw the reward to her to catch while she is sitting in the box and then go and meet her at the box and we would usually tug on the ball. You obviously don't teach the going away and the returning in the same exercise to start that would be lumping. You would teach the returning (whether that is by way of recall/over a jump as per UD) as a separate component to running out to the box. Also lots of dogs seem to find the jumping part more exciting then the box part so come back with more enthusiasm then they go out. Not ideal (and obviously not if you trained it right) but you hardly have an issue getting the dog to leave the box to take a jump (unless they are in pain) then the battle you have getting them to go out to the box WITHOUT taking a jump.

They were my thoughts to Kavik - agility was one field I was thinking of, also things like sendaways where you want the dog driving hard away from you.

K9: It should be noted that, in "my" training in drive program I don't advise throwing toys/balls/rewards in early stages of training. There are about 50 problems that can arise from this (in my experience) so its not done. So do we get a list of these provide at the seminar (hurry up May ). I am curious as to some of the reasons you don't recommend it. I can think of a number of trainers who would recommend rewarding a dog in position and sometimes that position isn't necessarily within close proximity to you so wonder how this fits in but do also note that you mention in your response in early stages of training. So I guess its possibly more an issue while in the drive building phase then it might be later on down the track once you have already built drive and the drive object (whether that is food or toy) is no longer required to be on you to get the dog to switch on to the level you require. Is that a fair comment? K9: The same action can desensitize the dog to the ball throw. Your not locking the reward system into the handler either. Dogs arent born ball driven they are born prey driven, then converted. One major problem is that, the dog often focuses on where it thinks the ball will land, then it starts to field & wait for the throw. None of this will benefit training in most cases. Well yes she is prey driven and I could just as easily exchange the ball with a frisbee, with her tug toy, with whatever I have on hand, a lead if that is all I have on me. Waiting for a throw never earns the throw unless I am having a pure energy burn off session (and lets not get started sometimes my motivation to train is low and having a dog who isn't at me is of priority - hmm sounds like a bit of an excuse to me but sometimes you have to live with a dog outside of training ). I also use specific toys for these types of sessions and there are some rules like toy always comes back to me straight away and occasionally you might be asked to sit and hold a stay while I throw it. In a training context often the toy is hidden and the first reward will be placed/dropped into position. So if we are doing heelwork I would reward the same way people would with a treat. I guess there are also dogs that are purely about the chase and like to disappear with the ball when relesed. If I let my youngster have the toy (whether its thrown or I have released grip if its a tug toy) she is straight back at me for the game to continue.

Just saying how the conversation went out our end of year breakup last year and its attitude which seems to be shared among a number of people not just one or two. SA is a very closed shop to anything new.

Not sure how popular it would be even with ANKC recognition here - I have had discussions with DogsSA people and most of these discussions have centered on the belief that Rally titles (along with Dances with Dogs titles) are a joke and not worth the paper they are written on. I am sure Adelaide could get the minimum numbers to attend just not sure if there would be a club prepared to back the running of it.

Day 20

I know at the Adelaide nationals people were happy to enter just for the fun of it - to give it a go and nobody really minded in strat pairs how you actually went . Lots of people paired up with people they had never met. I will have a look at see if anything has been posted on Agility Australia I do remember reading something about somebody looking for a pair for a small dog just don't remember who. ETA. Bugger the 300 dog that was looking is after a dog with excellent titles.

Bugger amypie if I was coming he could have paired with my midget in 400 . Are you on the Agility-Australia list maybe post something there or see if they are having a strat pairs dating service .

I have heard that the Stephan Terrace Vet Clinic puppy preschool is a good one to go to. http://www.vetatstephen.com/puppy-school.asp

Hey RubyStar I make a mean lemon meringue pie .

My failed dog photos:

My day 19 - a non dog shot because my whites overexposed on all the dog photos I was hoping to pick from .