Level Two - Distance

Distance (Level 2): Dog goes around a pole from a distance of 2’ with no more than two cues.

Behavior:	Distance
Date	Criteria	Reps	+	%
7/16/2010	Crosses midpoint of pole	20	13	65%
		20	16	80%
		20	16	80%
	Move pole forward	20	18	90%
		20	16	80%
	Move pole forward	20	18	90%
	Move pole forward	20	19	95%
07/18/10	Pole support even w/ ball of foot	20	13	65%
		20	18	90%
	two inches beyond toes	20	18	90%
	foot length in front of toes	20	-	carpet to tile is different
	foot length in front of toes	20	19	95%

Once upon a time I bought some PVC pipe and built some jumps. That was so much fun, I bought some more PVC pipe with the intention of building weaves poles. Well, I built a weave pole. It's pretty neat, actually, I'm building them in a sort of modular way so I can add and subtract poles in any order to any number. 

But right now it's one. Pictures will come.

Our front hallway is tile, and Gatsby has surface issues. When I first brought him home he wouldn't go inside because he doesn't like walking on tile. He's gotten better about it, but does try to avoid slick ground when he can. At one point the distance from me was set up such that he would have to go from carpet to tile and then back. What was interesting was he way flying through going around the pole, but after one rep at that distance he stopped and started asking me if I was treating for heel position.

So I learned a couple of things. One, is that I give too many sympathy cookies and the spreadsheet method curbs that. I have stricter criteria for what a successful rep is, so I have more patience to wait for the behavior I want.

Second, when I have this under stimulus control, I'm going to go back and retrain this behavior at the change from carpet to tile. I think this will help him get over the tile thing. We need to do sits and downs there too, as well as other weird surfaces. And sitting facing away from me and at distances.

From: Susan Ailsby's Training Levels