I may have been a bit slack in blogging what has happened...
A week out from our test date I ended up sick as, well, the proverbial dog. Possibly sicker, considering the dogs were obnoxiously chipper and enjoyed repeatedly shoving slobber-covered toys in my face while I was splodged on the nearest horizontal surface in a puddle of non-coherence. (I love my dogs but I admit my sense of humor wasn't at it's best when I cracked an eye open to discover the taste in my mouth was a combo of slobber-and-carpet-crud-marinated plushie... shoved there in an effort to get it thrown. Ta ever so very girls!) I slept like a narcoleptic, passed out when standing up (hellooooo gravity!), had a lovely visit with my Meniere's as it flared up and food was a Very BAD Idea to see... or smell... or think about... or acknowledge the probable physical existence of. Fantastic for when you're on a to-the-day deadline to train a nice stinky-food based trick right?
The two days before I was quasi-well enough that with about a bottles worth of chest rub stuffed up my nostrils to block out the scent and a medicine cabinet worth of 'better living through chemistry' I was able to get in a few 10 minute sessions in a public space for the first time without hurling. Dogs hey? What boring, normal, positively sane lives we'd lead without them to do wacky crap in the name of training for!
The upside of it all is that Ms. Cleverpants lived up to her name and did the trick despite our lack of proofing. Phew! We found out on the anniversary of her sister's passing she got in. Something to smile about was very welcome on a day that's been drowned in tears and spent in our Rainbow Bridge memory garden painting. Hopie's had her first lesson of foundation and was so excited that the next day anytime I was even remotely near the door she'd dash to the training bag and then the door while bouncing like a loonie so I think she may have enjoyed herself a tiny bit. LOL
And tomorrow we're off for the first flyball comp of the season... whole buckets of yay over getting to be back out doing stuff with my best girlies again!
Showing posts with label Hope. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hope. Show all posts
Friday, September 09, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
My name this week...
Clever McCleverpants. And I can hold the hotdog just like a dumb-bell without nomming it!
While this one got lost in her own back yard and howled her little heart out till mumma came and rescued her.
And these two were just plain mischief!
Monday, August 15, 2011
Breakdown of the hotdog retrieve, for anyone interested.
Steps mainly follow:
Pre-req for good understanding of 'zen' related food refusal (self control, impulse control), front and finish
I'm deliberately not spelling out steps on some of the skill-sets as there's thousands of others who've covered it well and truly, except where I've done things in a way I want to remember.
1.) shaped retrieve of dumbbell
a.) pick up and take the correct 'bit' of the dumbbell instead of picking it up from other areas
b.) pick up and hold from hand - no duration/distraction at this point
c.) pick up and bring shaping from just lifting off the ground to normal carrying height and then bringing it, duration, distraction, distance
d.) teach to release specifically into the hand and not any other location properly, duration, distraction
d.1.) backing up to hold from hand duration and distraction (seemed more natural progression)
e.) add in distance,duration, distractions to Whole Picture
f.) stim cont
2.) chaining and proofing retrieve with front and finish and proof those for distance/duration/distraction
3.) introducing 'hotdog' in a "can't eat it" form (frozen and either in a PVC tube if your dog is persistent (has a grip that's hard enough to break plasticwrap) like Sierra or in plasticwrap if they're easier (like Hope) and introduce as a substitute dumbbell and work the idea back up. Work on a take and hold with the froze/pvc hotdog, starting brief and working up duration
5.) begin unwrapping small bits of the end, zen work with no sniffing/licking/grabbing the tempty bits and work on take and hold, up duration
6.) unwrap more and more progressively until you are working with the unwrapped frozen hotdog.(This is where Hope is at atm.)
7.) add in carrying it over a distance
8.) pick unwrapped froze hotdog off the floor and bring it
9.) switch to partially thawed, then raw, then cooked cool, then cooked warm hotdogs (dogs may transition easily and jump from froze to cooked or need the transitions)
10.) put it all together so that it's a formal start position, send out, retrieve and release
We will also have to proof this for the hotdog having icky sawdust on it as well as the test will occur in a horse arena which the floor is compacted sawdust. (Blerg!)
The reason we're not a bit further is I was training when tired and my timing in marking was um, just a fraction of a hair late. Which I noticed when (you get what you reinforce) my dog started deliberately relaxing her jaw allowing it to roll out after having a nice firm hold, while I tried to get duration extension! *sigh* Oh well, easy fixed, just no more training at midnight! ;p
Pre-req for good understanding of 'zen' related food refusal (self control, impulse control), front and finish
I'm deliberately not spelling out steps on some of the skill-sets as there's thousands of others who've covered it well and truly, except where I've done things in a way I want to remember.
1.) shaped retrieve of dumbbell
a.) pick up and take the correct 'bit' of the dumbbell instead of picking it up from other areas
b.) pick up and hold from hand - no duration/distraction at this point
c.) pick up and bring shaping from just lifting off the ground to normal carrying height and then bringing it, duration, distraction, distance
d.) teach to release specifically into the hand and not any other location properly, duration, distraction
d.1.) backing up to hold from hand duration and distraction (seemed more natural progression)
e.) add in distance,duration, distractions to Whole Picture
f.) stim cont
2.) chaining and proofing retrieve with front and finish and proof those for distance/duration/distraction
3.) introducing 'hotdog' in a "can't eat it" form (frozen and either in a PVC tube if your dog is persistent (has a grip that's hard enough to break plasticwrap) like Sierra or in plasticwrap if they're easier (like Hope) and introduce as a substitute dumbbell and work the idea back up. Work on a take and hold with the froze/pvc hotdog, starting brief and working up duration
5.) begin unwrapping small bits of the end, zen work with no sniffing/licking/grabbing the tempty bits and work on take and hold, up duration
6.) unwrap more and more progressively until you are working with the unwrapped frozen hotdog.(This is where Hope is at atm.)
7.) add in carrying it over a distance
8.) pick unwrapped froze hotdog off the floor and bring it
9.) switch to partially thawed, then raw, then cooked cool, then cooked warm hotdogs (dogs may transition easily and jump from froze to cooked or need the transitions)
10.) put it all together so that it's a formal start position, send out, retrieve and release
We will also have to proof this for the hotdog having icky sawdust on it as well as the test will occur in a horse arena which the floor is compacted sawdust. (Blerg!)
The reason we're not a bit further is I was training when tired and my timing in marking was um, just a fraction of a hair late. Which I noticed when (you get what you reinforce) my dog started deliberately relaxing her jaw allowing it to roll out after having a nice firm hold, while I tried to get duration extension! *sigh* Oh well, easy fixed, just no more training at midnight! ;p
Monday, July 25, 2011
By George... I think the girl has GOT it!
Well... that may be a tad (okay, a lot) premature BUT having been working on Hopie's dry skills I have to say we've already seen some very HAPPY results which is awesome.
The first task we focused on was one of our biggest - the stock stick, which had gotten to a point where she saw it and was already anticipating pressure before we even got to the paddock. She's not bothered by sticks or stick like objects in general or in other contexts - so I could use literally the same one as a target wand, run it all over her body,as a prop for freestyle, for fetch etc. so it was purely the fact it'd come to represent an (albeit usually considered mild) aversive. That's been the biggest turn around as well - madam is a wiggling, waggling ball of happy eager dog she usually is and moves off it without issue. Hopefully this will transfer over nicely to non-bucket flocks once we've got latency and distance more where I want them. (Yes, I'm going to proof this to death before reintroducing it and pondering on how to structure the reintroductions so that I can maintain nice fine slices of single behaviours. LOL)
The next we worked on was a basic cast out. She already knows that - well in so far as we'd worked her before and she knew 'get around' meant get your bum out around the sheep and start fetching even if it was too fast, too close in to them etc. so not really what I want as my ideal cast! I started with a basic one anyway to get it firmly on cue and in relation to our flock-o-buckets before I started tinkering with increasing the width she was running out relative to the 'flock', the spaced-ness of her flock and then combining that with my distance from the "flock".
So it went:
We've also got 'back' down pretty well - very confident on her part, complete with occasional hind foot kicking chutzpa. LOL
We've got 'look away' and 'look bye' (turn your head and shoulders out in the direction, to widen the angle of her path when she's cued to move) pretty well too. Bye is not as solid as away and she'll sometimes offer away still so we need to go pick it apart a bit. Probably (maybe?) to do with handedness as well? That does link with walk-on and we've just started chaining look away + walk and she's got walk-in (straight in) pretty well.
With regard to walk in, I'm pondering teaching it from her being oriented to different directions - ie 2 o'clock, 4, 6, 8, 10 etc. on a radial but debating where exactly I want to consider the 'target spot'. We've enough on our plate it can wait but I'm pondering away anyhow.
It's a fun experiment for us anyhow and hopefully getting us closer to where we need to be. It's also a fair bit of thinking of how to restructure things and getting some much clearer/more precise definitions of exactly what I want for the ideal/perfect/finished behaviours in each case.
The first task we focused on was one of our biggest - the stock stick, which had gotten to a point where she saw it and was already anticipating pressure before we even got to the paddock. She's not bothered by sticks or stick like objects in general or in other contexts - so I could use literally the same one as a target wand, run it all over her body,as a prop for freestyle, for fetch etc. so it was purely the fact it'd come to represent an (albeit usually considered mild) aversive. That's been the biggest turn around as well - madam is a wiggling, waggling ball of happy eager dog she usually is and moves off it without issue. Hopefully this will transfer over nicely to non-bucket flocks once we've got latency and distance more where I want them. (Yes, I'm going to proof this to death before reintroducing it and pondering on how to structure the reintroductions so that I can maintain nice fine slices of single behaviours. LOL)
The next we worked on was a basic cast out. She already knows that - well in so far as we'd worked her before and she knew 'get around' meant get your bum out around the sheep and start fetching even if it was too fast, too close in to them etc. so not really what I want as my ideal cast! I started with a basic one anyway to get it firmly on cue and in relation to our flock-o-buckets before I started tinkering with increasing the width she was running out relative to the 'flock', the spaced-ness of her flock and then combining that with my distance from the "flock".
So it went:
- flock close together, me close to flock, cast out and going within .5m foot of the flock
- flock close together, me standing .5m away from flock, cast out and going within .5m foot of the flock
- flock close together, me standing 1m away from flock, cast out and going within .5m foot of the flock
- flock close together, me standing 2m away from flock, cast out and going within .5m foot of the flock
And so on to get me standing back further from the flock. Then we spread the flock: - flock spread .25m apart from each other, me standing .5m away from flock, cast out and going within .5m foot of the flock
- flock spread .5m apart from each other
- flock spread 1 m apart from each other
- flock (which had a population explosion at this point *G* and gained a few dozen members) spread .5 apart from each other, me standing .5m away from flock, cast out and going within .5m of the flock and so on so she had to go around a 'big', semi 'loosely grouped' flock
Then those sheep started being further away from me. They went back to being fewer (about half the flock took a tropical vacation...) and closer (it's cold out) but instead of being 1-2 m away, they were 3-4m away and then began drifting apart again. At this point, now we're working on getting her further back from the flock. - flock spread .5 m apart from each other, me standing back 1-2m, her going around within .5m of their 'bums'
- flock spread .5 m apart from each other, me standing back 1-2m, her going around within .75m of their 'bums'
- flock spread .5 m apart from each other, me standing back 1-2m, her going around within 1 m of their 'bums' and so on... 1.5m, 2m, 2.5m, 3m etc Then they started spreading apart again... so the flock was 1m apart from each other, me back 1-2m, her having to work progressively wider around their bums. Basically I want her to be comfortable doing what is asked regardless of how far I am from her, how far back from the sheep she is working, how far back the total space from me to the sheep and the sheep to her is or how wide spread they are that means she has to arch out wider to maintain the wider 'space bubble' around the sheepies.
We've also got 'back' down pretty well - very confident on her part, complete with occasional hind foot kicking chutzpa. LOL
We've got 'look away' and 'look bye' (turn your head and shoulders out in the direction, to widen the angle of her path when she's cued to move) pretty well too. Bye is not as solid as away and she'll sometimes offer away still so we need to go pick it apart a bit. Probably (maybe?) to do with handedness as well? That does link with walk-on and we've just started chaining look away + walk and she's got walk-in (straight in) pretty well.
With regard to walk in, I'm pondering teaching it from her being oriented to different directions - ie 2 o'clock, 4, 6, 8, 10 etc. on a radial but debating where exactly I want to consider the 'target spot'. We've enough on our plate it can wait but I'm pondering away anyhow.
It's a fun experiment for us anyhow and hopefully getting us closer to where we need to be. It's also a fair bit of thinking of how to restructure things and getting some much clearer/more precise definitions of exactly what I want for the ideal/perfect/finished behaviours in each case.
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
combo plater pics
Rinlicious... proof that while all of us are special, some of us are moreso than others!
 |
| But my mumma loves me! |
And the older goober heads have a run around Shipwreck Rock...
Two-fer-one
It's distraction proofing AND reality tv for cows!
No, we're not doing herding - we're proofing down and sit-stays with maintaining attention and focus while mum is at a distance (pics taken with 30x zoom) for several minutes and the cows just happen to decide to assist with distraction proofing.
"I know it's there and I'm ignoring it, I'm not falling for that old distraction and loosing my click!"
(Okay mostly... covert glance!) Meanwhile apparently watching us train is the cow equivalent of Big Brother and really, reeeeeally fascinating because they all come over and right up to snuffle.
Later on, while we were doing some of our herding dry work I didn't realize the curious cows had come over. Being hard of hearing and it being somewhat windy I had no idea there was a small group right behind me. Hope did and at one point when I went to send her around instead of going where I sent her, she went around behind me. I whirled around wondering if she hadn't lost her marbles only to see the cows fetching at me. Hope was very chuffed with herself after weeks of working dry only to FINALLY some real work! Little monster!
Sunday, July 03, 2011
Hope's sheepdog-type plan rough draft thingiemawhotchie
So... best intentions aside I haven't blogged for weeks.
However lots has been going on. With Hopie we'd trying to figure out how to train herding using R+ based training wherever possible and to teach her to become more comfortable with human applied pressure for pressure and release. I felt like her instincts were keen and she loves the actual work but the only real sticking point was in her not faring well with even very, very, very minor aversively taught approaches. I had some basic ideas but fleshed it out with a discussion from some lovely folks and (hopefully!) between it we've got a good plan going.
So here is the attempt to write out the plan (something I've been remiss on...) for her and some of what we've been working on. Worst case, it doesn't improve things but we're no worse off and best case it may work super for us. (Certainly hope so!) Either way for a dog for whom the tools 'inside the box' aren't bringing out her best game, 'outside the box' however oddly nontraditional it appears has little to loose.
So the areas of trouble for her mainly include:
Behaviours not fluent before being asked for at working level
Dry training had been in the plans for awhile and after talking to some people who have taught working/trial dogs with R+ I came away even more certain. I decided to start dry until many behaviours are fully/very very highly fluent so I can focus just on the dog, without also having to contend with a number of other independent minds who are not stationary and more difficult to reset for multiple finely sliced reps of the same behaviour. The dry-work has the benefit of being able to practice single behaviours in well split easily achievable criteria in a controlled setting which allows the behaviour to become solid, low latency and have significant duration, distance and distraction proofing added to it rather than try to attain those on the fly with the sheep and concurrent with everything else. Likewise you don't have to rely on other half-trained behaviours at the same time. ;)
Some of this is not new or exclusive as certainly there are a fair few well known working dog trainers who teach a down/stop/come/flanking dry. I'm also wanting to teach to higher standards:
* come in (pretty self explanatory)
* back (move directly outward from the sheep 'target'- not sure if I want this to simply be stepping back or actually turning around or if it even matters... pondering atm!)
* directional modifier cues (not flanking commands - turning out the whole head/shoulder orientation to widen the future trajectory)
* walk - meaning along whatever path your head/shoulders are currently facing until told to do something else. I'm thinking that this can get paired with directionals - walk on, walk up, walk by, walk away) for when I specifically want her to do the movement at a slower than normal pace.
* outruns
* angles to come around sheep on - has previously been something of an issue
* and while not intended to be taught on cue per se but shaping angles for casting out on stationary objects at increasing widths and distances, proper shaped flanking
And maybe other stuff as I think of it or when I trip across the need for them in levels beyond started. She does know many of the cues in the obedience/general context very well but the plan is to practice even those in a herding context and at distances to help them become more as high quality/lickitysplit/'no matter what' as they are in other areas.
Distance
One of the things we were seeing consistently was that she while she was okay giving the sheep some distance she wanted to work relatively close to me and became uncertain if the sheep's distance meant she was asked to work further distances relative to me. Doubly if she was at all uncertain. As well as making it difficult to teach/refine behaviours, it also meant she tended to quarter in and bring the sheep up too close to me for comfortable movement to stay within that relative distance and may also affect lining up for obstacles.
While I've varied my rewards quite a bit - food, toys, games, planted environmental rewards, opportunities to access things - it seems I've unintentionally trained her that there is a 20-ish meter zone that she is to work in and expect reward delivery within relative to me. (Since so far nothing we've trained or done has really required a functional/reliable working distance beyond that beyond a recall.) Because of that and how sensitive she is, working outside that distance especially where the behaviours are not trained to fluency is worrisome. While for most dogs this may not be significant, for her it's a problem. While not directly applicable to herding general distance work may extended her safe/familiar/rewarding/comfort zone so that if there IS a stressor added it's not on top of uncertainty due to distance. Likewise generic (non herding specific) distance (remote?) reward delivery to ensure she is aware that rewards can be delivered at that distance regardless of relation to me.
Pressure
Hope is incredibly sensitive to social approval and her perceiving it to be withdrawn makes her anxious. She is surprisingly confident with external pressure (ie that applied by the sheep and cattle in general or individuals in specific) which speaks to it not being pressure in general she is over sensitive to. Because of this, I do not believe (natural) pressure itself is the only issue, the timing of the pressure or the degree of it but rather the combination of the behaviours not being fully trained ones and the pressure (coming from human/stock stick) being taught as an aversive to 'correct' her into guessing right to get the release.
The direct seeking-in I think is more of an appeasement behaviour over not knowing what is wanted, anxiety re: distance and anxiety re: aversive pressure and an attempt to use a fall back with a high history of being 'right' everywhere else in life. Actions like shooing her out, withdraw eye contact or continuing to request a yield (continued pressure) becomes perceived as failing to be able to appease. The more appeasement is withheld the harder the dog tries to appease and the higher the stress raises, until shut down will be the inevitably hit when NOTHING is going to be able to make things right.
Yielding - Central to the pressure issues imo is that at the moment the yield with a stock stick is taught with P&R being taught as a mild aversive. For most dogs combined with the heavy draw of the sheep it is mild enough that especially with precise timing in the application, the yield gaining removal and the amount of pressure being applied on an 'as mild as possible' basis for the individual and ideally passively (ie the pressure is held at the lowest possible useful level, so the dog can't gain access but is simply waited out vs successively applied increases of pressure) the dog works through any stress.
For some dogs like Hope, even mildest aversives are enough to be significantly off putting but there is no reason the action (yielding) or reacting to pressure must be taught with an aversive. That was the 'reframing' context I was dithering on!!! The same action (move off/yield to either SS pressure or body signal pressure) can be taught in a slightly different manner utilizing R+ to shape the yield and then delivering the reward at or just beyond the peripheral zone. (ie delivery in place or tossing behind/on the outward trajectory the dog may be asked to move next). The result should be a dog who is comfortable with the pressure being applied as positive information - which was pointed out to me (I'd not realized, not being that far along) may be very useful in more advanced classes where you are sorting/shedding or instances where you want to have the dog come into the pressure you're putting on the stock. I likes!
So that's where we are now, working on the dry stuff and then going to start scouting around for a few new sheep who are veerrryyy docile and like to stay together quietly and some quackers now that we can. :)
However lots has been going on. With Hopie we'd trying to figure out how to train herding using R+ based training wherever possible and to teach her to become more comfortable with human applied pressure for pressure and release. I felt like her instincts were keen and she loves the actual work but the only real sticking point was in her not faring well with even very, very, very minor aversively taught approaches. I had some basic ideas but fleshed it out with a discussion from some lovely folks and (hopefully!) between it we've got a good plan going.
So here is the attempt to write out the plan (something I've been remiss on...) for her and some of what we've been working on. Worst case, it doesn't improve things but we're no worse off and best case it may work super for us. (Certainly hope so!) Either way for a dog for whom the tools 'inside the box' aren't bringing out her best game, 'outside the box' however oddly nontraditional it appears has little to loose.
So the areas of trouble for her mainly include:
Behaviours not fluent before being asked for at working level
Dry training had been in the plans for awhile and after talking to some people who have taught working/trial dogs with R+ I came away even more certain. I decided to start dry until many behaviours are fully/very very highly fluent so I can focus just on the dog, without also having to contend with a number of other independent minds who are not stationary and more difficult to reset for multiple finely sliced reps of the same behaviour. The dry-work has the benefit of being able to practice single behaviours in well split easily achievable criteria in a controlled setting which allows the behaviour to become solid, low latency and have significant duration, distance and distraction proofing added to it rather than try to attain those on the fly with the sheep and concurrent with everything else. Likewise you don't have to rely on other half-trained behaviours at the same time. ;)
Some of this is not new or exclusive as certainly there are a fair few well known working dog trainers who teach a down/stop/come/flanking dry. I'm also wanting to teach to higher standards:
* come in (pretty self explanatory)
* back (move directly outward from the sheep 'target'- not sure if I want this to simply be stepping back or actually turning around or if it even matters... pondering atm!)
* directional modifier cues (not flanking commands - turning out the whole head/shoulder orientation to widen the future trajectory)
* walk - meaning along whatever path your head/shoulders are currently facing until told to do something else. I'm thinking that this can get paired with directionals - walk on, walk up, walk by, walk away) for when I specifically want her to do the movement at a slower than normal pace.
* outruns
* angles to come around sheep on - has previously been something of an issue
* and while not intended to be taught on cue per se but shaping angles for casting out on stationary objects at increasing widths and distances, proper shaped flanking
And maybe other stuff as I think of it or when I trip across the need for them in levels beyond started. She does know many of the cues in the obedience/general context very well but the plan is to practice even those in a herding context and at distances to help them become more as high quality/lickitysplit/'no matter what' as they are in other areas.
Distance
One of the things we were seeing consistently was that she while she was okay giving the sheep some distance she wanted to work relatively close to me and became uncertain if the sheep's distance meant she was asked to work further distances relative to me. Doubly if she was at all uncertain. As well as making it difficult to teach/refine behaviours, it also meant she tended to quarter in and bring the sheep up too close to me for comfortable movement to stay within that relative distance and may also affect lining up for obstacles.
While I've varied my rewards quite a bit - food, toys, games, planted environmental rewards, opportunities to access things - it seems I've unintentionally trained her that there is a 20-ish meter zone that she is to work in and expect reward delivery within relative to me. (Since so far nothing we've trained or done has really required a functional/reliable working distance beyond that beyond a recall.) Because of that and how sensitive she is, working outside that distance especially where the behaviours are not trained to fluency is worrisome. While for most dogs this may not be significant, for her it's a problem. While not directly applicable to herding general distance work may extended her safe/familiar/rewarding/comfort zone so that if there IS a stressor added it's not on top of uncertainty due to distance. Likewise generic (non herding specific) distance (remote?) reward delivery to ensure she is aware that rewards can be delivered at that distance regardless of relation to me.
Pressure
Hope is incredibly sensitive to social approval and her perceiving it to be withdrawn makes her anxious. She is surprisingly confident with external pressure (ie that applied by the sheep and cattle in general or individuals in specific) which speaks to it not being pressure in general she is over sensitive to. Because of this, I do not believe (natural) pressure itself is the only issue, the timing of the pressure or the degree of it but rather the combination of the behaviours not being fully trained ones and the pressure (coming from human/stock stick) being taught as an aversive to 'correct' her into guessing right to get the release.
The direct seeking-in I think is more of an appeasement behaviour over not knowing what is wanted, anxiety re: distance and anxiety re: aversive pressure and an attempt to use a fall back with a high history of being 'right' everywhere else in life. Actions like shooing her out, withdraw eye contact or continuing to request a yield (continued pressure) becomes perceived as failing to be able to appease. The more appeasement is withheld the harder the dog tries to appease and the higher the stress raises, until shut down will be the inevitably hit when NOTHING is going to be able to make things right.
Yielding - Central to the pressure issues imo is that at the moment the yield with a stock stick is taught with P&R being taught as a mild aversive. For most dogs combined with the heavy draw of the sheep it is mild enough that especially with precise timing in the application, the yield gaining removal and the amount of pressure being applied on an 'as mild as possible' basis for the individual and ideally passively (ie the pressure is held at the lowest possible useful level, so the dog can't gain access but is simply waited out vs successively applied increases of pressure) the dog works through any stress.
For some dogs like Hope, even mildest aversives are enough to be significantly off putting but there is no reason the action (yielding) or reacting to pressure must be taught with an aversive. That was the 'reframing' context I was dithering on!!! The same action (move off/yield to either SS pressure or body signal pressure) can be taught in a slightly different manner utilizing R+ to shape the yield and then delivering the reward at or just beyond the peripheral zone. (ie delivery in place or tossing behind/on the outward trajectory the dog may be asked to move next). The result should be a dog who is comfortable with the pressure being applied as positive information - which was pointed out to me (I'd not realized, not being that far along) may be very useful in more advanced classes where you are sorting/shedding or instances where you want to have the dog come into the pressure you're putting on the stock. I likes!
So that's where we are now, working on the dry stuff and then going to start scouting around for a few new sheep who are veerrryyy docile and like to stay together quietly and some quackers now that we can. :)
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Just a quickie... Hope got enough points at the Hastings comp to finish her Aust. FD Championship so now she's AFDCh. Cuebiyar Cross My Heart PT :)
She had fun at the next comp in Ringwood as well and was very pleased to win a bag of treats and goodies for most amusing bandana (bandanas worn by all flyball members in that comp in support of a member who is fighting cancer at the moment) in our matching disco glittery sequin bandanas too! LOL
As you can see, being a flyball dog is a very rough job indeed! LOL For those who have followed our tuggy saga you can also see our BRAND NEW burgundy FLUFFY-WUBBIE!
For those who have missed the saga, Hope had one particular tug toy known as Fluffy-Wubbie she loved and adored above all others. When it was new it was about as long as I am tall and as the name would imply - it was fluffy. She would run back at top speeds and hit it just as hard as she could and tug like mad! After months of "love" though, Fluffy was reduced to a >20cm tatty, bald and sad looking nub. It's size also meant my knuckles were in peril of recieving dental imprints when she hit it. We tried a number of different tuggy styles and I'd bought various bits of faux-fur/polar fleece with no joy. There was just no tuggy as wonderful... till now! She is in looovveeee!!! Long live Fluffy-Wubbie the Second!!!!
She had fun at the next comp in Ringwood as well and was very pleased to win a bag of treats and goodies for most amusing bandana (bandanas worn by all flyball members in that comp in support of a member who is fighting cancer at the moment) in our matching disco glittery sequin bandanas too! LOL
As you can see, being a flyball dog is a very rough job indeed! LOL For those who have followed our tuggy saga you can also see our BRAND NEW burgundy FLUFFY-WUBBIE!
For those who have missed the saga, Hope had one particular tug toy known as Fluffy-Wubbie she loved and adored above all others. When it was new it was about as long as I am tall and as the name would imply - it was fluffy. She would run back at top speeds and hit it just as hard as she could and tug like mad! After months of "love" though, Fluffy was reduced to a >20cm tatty, bald and sad looking nub. It's size also meant my knuckles were in peril of recieving dental imprints when she hit it. We tried a number of different tuggy styles and I'd bought various bits of faux-fur/polar fleece with no joy. There was just no tuggy as wonderful... till now! She is in looovveeee!!! Long live Fluffy-Wubbie the Second!!!!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Behold - a sign of the end of days...
I. Went. Jogging.
Yep. I'll give you all a moment to pause and catch your breath from that hysterical laughter.
After not having jogged in *mumbletymumble* ages I started off on our walk and that oh-so-intelligent part of my brain piped up "hey, wouldn't it be nice to get back to jogging?" So I figured what they heck and started. First little while was an adrenaline rush. Whoo hoo... I fell into it like I'd never stopped! That little voice in my head was positively smug - ha! Not so out of shape after all! Yeah. Well... pride and the fall and all that...
I made it not quite a kilometer before the stitch in my side made a persuasive enough argument that we walked most of the rest of our normal nightly-walkies route. So yeah... maybe that whole jogging idea is one of those things I need to do slightly more often. And um, maybe some of that core focused stuff going by the general 'oh hey, remember me, I'm the muscle you forgot you had - surprise!' feeling in that area.
The dogs thought this new revelation was BRILLIANT. They'd figured all my speeds faster than plod had been broken! Who knew???
Now our usual route is along a quiet dirt road and we almost never see anyone along the way aside from the cows, sheep or occasional tethered goat. Today however I also had a few years scared off my life when my mob of dogs saw SOMETHING in the dark and stopped dead in their tracks. Sierra, being the oldest, vaguely recalled hearing "guardian instinct" somewhere in the Australian Shepherd job description quietly growled a low warning. Which is more intimidating if you've never met her and don't know this is the dog who jumps when she's startled by her own farts. Her lieutenants - Hope, Rin and Shadow took a moment to look mutually confused (nope, we haven't done anything to make her peevish at us - huh, must be something else!) before deciding it was their job as lieutenants to back her up even if they had no clue what they were backing her up on. Still they get points for sounding intimidating, even if all three heads were constantly swiveling in randomly opposite directions that seemed to be everywhere other than where the deadly serial killer was apparently laying in wait. The serial killer, who, by the way happened to be one of our neighbors who do know my mob are harmless and their completely stone deaf fat Methuselah of a beagle who paid them utterly NO notice. ~_~ How embarrassment!
Yep. I'll give you all a moment to pause and catch your breath from that hysterical laughter.
After not having jogged in *mumbletymumble* ages I started off on our walk and that oh-so-intelligent part of my brain piped up "hey, wouldn't it be nice to get back to jogging?" So I figured what they heck and started. First little while was an adrenaline rush. Whoo hoo... I fell into it like I'd never stopped! That little voice in my head was positively smug - ha! Not so out of shape after all! Yeah. Well... pride and the fall and all that...
I made it not quite a kilometer before the stitch in my side made a persuasive enough argument that we walked most of the rest of our normal nightly-walkies route. So yeah... maybe that whole jogging idea is one of those things I need to do slightly more often. And um, maybe some of that core focused stuff going by the general 'oh hey, remember me, I'm the muscle you forgot you had - surprise!' feeling in that area.
The dogs thought this new revelation was BRILLIANT. They'd figured all my speeds faster than plod had been broken! Who knew???
Now our usual route is along a quiet dirt road and we almost never see anyone along the way aside from the cows, sheep or occasional tethered goat. Today however I also had a few years scared off my life when my mob of dogs saw SOMETHING in the dark and stopped dead in their tracks. Sierra, being the oldest, vaguely recalled hearing "guardian instinct" somewhere in the Australian Shepherd job description quietly growled a low warning. Which is more intimidating if you've never met her and don't know this is the dog who jumps when she's startled by her own farts. Her lieutenants - Hope, Rin and Shadow took a moment to look mutually confused (nope, we haven't done anything to make her peevish at us - huh, must be something else!) before deciding it was their job as lieutenants to back her up even if they had no clue what they were backing her up on. Still they get points for sounding intimidating, even if all three heads were constantly swiveling in randomly opposite directions that seemed to be everywhere other than where the deadly serial killer was apparently laying in wait. The serial killer, who, by the way happened to be one of our neighbors who do know my mob are harmless and their completely stone deaf fat Methuselah of a beagle who paid them utterly NO notice. ~_~ How embarrassment!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Yesterday we had our Pakenham comp with Hopie (which I *still* managed to be late to... gods I miss traveling with just me and the dogs some days!) yesterday and was quite pleased with it. She did pretty well but even more exciting she was fine with us sitting next to the dog which she'd been previously rather worried about which was awesome!
In the meantime the next day we went to training as per usual but I only took Sierra and Rin as Hope had what we thought was a bug bite but might have been the start of a hotspot. (It's looking like a bug bite after all though!) After Si had a few runs for fun, Rin and I sat down together waiting for our turn and playing in the sunshine. As we goofed around practicing down/sits, please, LAT, eye contact, targeting, on/off switch and leave it I had to admire how clever she is. I had a thought that it was really serendipity that we were sitting here enjoying this today. If I'd not have happened to read the message about her when I did, hadn't responded to ask about her or had they not called VHA in the first place to see if anyone would take her as a last resort before putting her down she might have been PTS and I wouldn't have half the fun in my life I did at that moment. I am so, so, so glad things worked out as they did!
She is a mad hatter, feral-head, wild child, crazy nutterbutter Borderbrat but since I think those traits make for a lot of fun, you can read that as "she's such a deeply cool dog!" Mind you she's not the dog for everyone so I can understand how she'd be trouble elsewhere. She is a professional cardboard box and plastic bottle demolisher. (Incidentally the people at Bunnings must think I'm a mad box hoarder given how often I come in for more boxes...) She needs if a dead minimum of a morning romp with the tennis-ball launcher around the paddocks, an hour or two of merry chaos wrestling around with her sisters at full throttle, a good long walk and training games throughout the day to take the edge off her need to do something. Why? Because if you don't that energy and busy little brain are liable to be found with their mouth on a couch or chair or WALL getting ready to to chew chunks to test which is the highest in palatablity. She is busy and curious and dastardly inventive and wonderfully bloody mindedly creative to work with. She has no sense of gravity and is more liable to sleep on the top of the fridge or woodshed roof than an actual dog bed. (Yes I could change that btw, as I have with perching/sleeping on countertops and stovetops but there is something about her snoozing on the fridge top that makes me laugh every single time, so I choose to keep it.) She comes with two speeds: fast and may-redefine-lightspeed-as-a-standard-measurement. She's Sam I Am in Green Eggs And Ham who must run through every variable when told you don't want green eggs and ham. Yeah you might THINK you don't but what about here or there, in a house, with a mouse, in a box,with a fox, in a car, in a tree, in a train, in the dark, in the rain, with a goat or on a boat? In short she is a nut but she's my kinda nut and I luffs her!
In different news I finished my March challenge painting of the boat - it's a miniature, just under 8x8cm (3x3"). The white isn't reading quite right on the camera and a lot of the more subtle blue, lavender and green undertones in the white don't show.
I also started on Rambo, a 14 year old Sheltie, who also belongs to the team-mate I painted Leo for. He's quite grey in the face so it'll be interesting to paint that much white and try to make it look not rubbish. Here's the rough-in:
I've also done a bit more on the black tri dog and on my cows but part of what I did was some veerrryyy thin glazes which require extra time to set fully so you don't pick up the layer again when you keep going so nothing too thrilling on them atm.
In the meantime the next day we went to training as per usual but I only took Sierra and Rin as Hope had what we thought was a bug bite but might have been the start of a hotspot. (It's looking like a bug bite after all though!) After Si had a few runs for fun, Rin and I sat down together waiting for our turn and playing in the sunshine. As we goofed around practicing down/sits, please, LAT, eye contact, targeting, on/off switch and leave it I had to admire how clever she is. I had a thought that it was really serendipity that we were sitting here enjoying this today. If I'd not have happened to read the message about her when I did, hadn't responded to ask about her or had they not called VHA in the first place to see if anyone would take her as a last resort before putting her down she might have been PTS and I wouldn't have half the fun in my life I did at that moment. I am so, so, so glad things worked out as they did!
She is a mad hatter, feral-head, wild child, crazy nutterbutter Borderbrat but since I think those traits make for a lot of fun, you can read that as "she's such a deeply cool dog!" Mind you she's not the dog for everyone so I can understand how she'd be trouble elsewhere. She is a professional cardboard box and plastic bottle demolisher. (Incidentally the people at Bunnings must think I'm a mad box hoarder given how often I come in for more boxes...) She needs if a dead minimum of a morning romp with the tennis-ball launcher around the paddocks, an hour or two of merry chaos wrestling around with her sisters at full throttle, a good long walk and training games throughout the day to take the edge off her need to do something. Why? Because if you don't that energy and busy little brain are liable to be found with their mouth on a couch or chair or WALL getting ready to to chew chunks to test which is the highest in palatablity. She is busy and curious and dastardly inventive and wonderfully bloody mindedly creative to work with. She has no sense of gravity and is more liable to sleep on the top of the fridge or woodshed roof than an actual dog bed. (Yes I could change that btw, as I have with perching/sleeping on countertops and stovetops but there is something about her snoozing on the fridge top that makes me laugh every single time, so I choose to keep it.) She comes with two speeds: fast and may-redefine-lightspeed-as-a-standard-measurement. She's Sam I Am in Green Eggs And Ham who must run through every variable when told you don't want green eggs and ham. Yeah you might THINK you don't but what about here or there, in a house, with a mouse, in a box,with a fox, in a car, in a tree, in a train, in the dark, in the rain, with a goat or on a boat? In short she is a nut but she's my kinda nut and I luffs her!
In different news I finished my March challenge painting of the boat - it's a miniature, just under 8x8cm (3x3"). The white isn't reading quite right on the camera and a lot of the more subtle blue, lavender and green undertones in the white don't show.
I also started on Rambo, a 14 year old Sheltie, who also belongs to the team-mate I painted Leo for. He's quite grey in the face so it'll be interesting to paint that much white and try to make it look not rubbish. Here's the rough-in:
I've also done a bit more on the black tri dog and on my cows but part of what I did was some veerrryyy thin glazes which require extra time to set fully so you don't pick up the layer again when you keep going so nothing too thrilling on them atm.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
random catch up photos
because I've been such a slacker and haven't really been sure what to write
One of the new roses in the Rainbow Bridge garden
Tim Tam, "Where are you going mum?"
Hopie and Luka at the dam
Lily at Ballarat comp
Luka on his birthday! :)
Lilypillie, my smiley girl
The interesting attempts to draw with small children around! LOL
Hopie with the ribbons our club gave her at the end of the year. She was more impressed with the biscuits but I thought they were nice. LOL
La demonstrating his weird abilities to sleep in the most bizzare places...
Hope at a recent comp
Hope, Sierra, Luka and Rin at the dam
Nilla playing sneaky stealth ninja bunny
and demanding a pat from La
Haha, - such shy timid little wallflowers hey!
One of the new roses in the Rainbow Bridge garden
Tim Tam, "Where are you going mum?"
Hopie and Luka at the dam
Lily at Ballarat comp
Luka on his birthday! :)
Lilypillie, my smiley girl
The interesting attempts to draw with small children around! LOL
Hopie with the ribbons our club gave her at the end of the year. She was more impressed with the biscuits but I thought they were nice. LOL
La demonstrating his weird abilities to sleep in the most bizzare places...
Hope at a recent comp
Hope, Sierra, Luka and Rin at the dam
Nilla playing sneaky stealth ninja bunny
and demanding a pat from La
Haha, - such shy timid little wallflowers hey!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Yay for Dopie Hopie Black Dog
Here are a few snaps from our Euroa comp of BlackDogBlack running. Euroa was a bit of an adventure. Lily and I bunked together, with the dogs snoozing with us so until 3:30am the scene involved Lily cuddling up with me, chatting, noticing the dogs, pouncing on them for cuddles, then noticing she was away from mum and bouncing back over. She finally drifted off but I couldn't get comfy between snoring velcro child and happy farting dogs so I woke up about half an hour after I nodded off. To boot it was raining so hard everyone was thinking of canceling the comp which would have meant a 3+ hour drive each way for nothing!
Luckily the weather did clear up and some really lovely coffee woke ME up. Hastings only ran one team this time so Hope got plenty of run time. She did much better than Frankston. Meanwhile we've pinpointed several things we'll be doing to refine her training before the Nationals in a few weeks. And in the meantime little miss Blackdogblack earned enough points to qualify for her Flyball Dog Championship title!
So yay for Hopie Dopie the Blackdogblack!
As usual though, the most important part is the fun. Which is found in all manner of interesting places! Ask Lily... ;p
Luckily the weather did clear up and some really lovely coffee woke ME up. Hastings only ran one team this time so Hope got plenty of run time. She did much better than Frankston. Meanwhile we've pinpointed several things we'll be doing to refine her training before the Nationals in a few weeks. And in the meantime little miss Blackdogblack earned enough points to qualify for her Flyball Dog Championship title!
So yay for Hopie Dopie the Blackdogblack!
As usual though, the most important part is the fun. Which is found in all manner of interesting places! Ask Lily... ;p
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
The furkids
It's been a bit crazy lately... okay, who am I kidding? It's ALWAYS crazy here, it's been MORE crazy!
The fantabulous news in it is that Emi, my foster kitty, left for her new home today and they are thrilled to bits with her. Honestly it couldn't be a better match it seems and it's very reaffirming after having waited all this time to find the perfect home for her to see her go there and the beginnings of a lovely new relationship!
One of the odder developments is that Tim Tam the orphaned lamb has decided the dogs are acceptable substitutes. The dogs for their part figure he's pretty cool too. As usual, everything that lives here is just a bit odder than usual!
Other than that we've just been practicing as Miss Hopie has her very first flyball comp coming up this weekend! So exciting! We've got several more comps coming up in the next few weeks so stay tuned for further flyball reports! This weekend it was the VHA's Duck Clinic with Frances Smith, which was good fun. Hope was not so sure those quackers were something she should work, as she knows she's supposed to leave my ducks alone at home. (In fact they can crawl all over her, steal food from her bowl etc)
Little Miss Rin had no such qualms... the Pointy Black Dog saw ducks and went into instant stalky-staring-slinking Border Collie mode. For such a wild child, she did pretty well... especially given a few people who've seen what a manic little bit of monkeyshine she is probably figured it'd look like a game of skittles with a mad teenage BC bowling ball and ducks for pins! It looks like some of my "you only get what you want by being calm, listening and doing things mum's way" is starting to sink in... a bit, anyway!
Not from the clinic - just one of Pointy Black Dog after she's had a good bit of fun running around my muddy paddocks! The ones below are from her first introduction to duckies. The pictures were taken by Mandi who deserves big kudos for putting on the clinic, hosting us, ensuring all her duckies were ready for us, asking Francis down and generally working her bum off to ensure we had a nice day! :)
(And look, PointyBlackDog DOES have a speed other than ZOOM or SPLAT-LAYING-FLAT!)
Poor Sisi is feeling a bit left out... agility is her gig and thanks to the metric crapload of rain and storms we've had the agility grounds have been too soggy to run on for the past MONTH AND A HALF. Literally the week after we got promoted! DOH!!!
The fantabulous news in it is that Emi, my foster kitty, left for her new home today and they are thrilled to bits with her. Honestly it couldn't be a better match it seems and it's very reaffirming after having waited all this time to find the perfect home for her to see her go there and the beginnings of a lovely new relationship!
One of the odder developments is that Tim Tam the orphaned lamb has decided the dogs are acceptable substitutes. The dogs for their part figure he's pretty cool too. As usual, everything that lives here is just a bit odder than usual!
Other than that we've just been practicing as Miss Hopie has her very first flyball comp coming up this weekend! So exciting! We've got several more comps coming up in the next few weeks so stay tuned for further flyball reports! This weekend it was the VHA's Duck Clinic with Frances Smith, which was good fun. Hope was not so sure those quackers were something she should work, as she knows she's supposed to leave my ducks alone at home. (In fact they can crawl all over her, steal food from her bowl etc)
Little Miss Rin had no such qualms... the Pointy Black Dog saw ducks and went into instant stalky-staring-slinking Border Collie mode. For such a wild child, she did pretty well... especially given a few people who've seen what a manic little bit of monkeyshine she is probably figured it'd look like a game of skittles with a mad teenage BC bowling ball and ducks for pins! It looks like some of my "you only get what you want by being calm, listening and doing things mum's way" is starting to sink in... a bit, anyway!
Not from the clinic - just one of Pointy Black Dog after she's had a good bit of fun running around my muddy paddocks! The ones below are from her first introduction to duckies. The pictures were taken by Mandi who deserves big kudos for putting on the clinic, hosting us, ensuring all her duckies were ready for us, asking Francis down and generally working her bum off to ensure we had a nice day! :)
(And look, PointyBlackDog DOES have a speed other than ZOOM or SPLAT-LAYING-FLAT!)
Poor Sisi is feeling a bit left out... agility is her gig and thanks to the metric crapload of rain and storms we've had the agility grounds have been too soggy to run on for the past MONTH AND A HALF. Literally the week after we got promoted! DOH!!!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Catch Up
Long time no blog... in chief it's because it's been busy. Which is a nice term for "more complicated than I have energy and wherewithall to sit and put into words by the end of the day when I finally have time"! LOL But I did actually write much of it down the other day, so I'm going to pinch some.
Earlier this year Laurent has been diagnosed with a proprioception sensory integration disorder and we've been working on this and the behavioural difficulties we'd been seeing with an occupational therapist and psychologist team. Basically proprioception has to do with the input gained from your muscles and joints. He is under responsive and as a result, rather than the information his senses provide integrating into one useful world picture, all that unorganized sensory input creates a traffic jam in his brain making it difficult to pay attention and learn while also causing him to seek out that missing sensory input. Sensory seeking behaviour for him typically comes in the form of wanting to hang off things, climb, crash, push, jump, fidget, pinch, twist, fiddle and be overly physical with objects etc. In hindsight it explains so many of the things we'd just chalked up to being individual quirks about him!
A 'side effect' of this under responsiveness is that he is also largely insensitive to pain. Consequently, where most people learn that things that hurt are to be avoided, he hardly notices tends to hurt himself fairly often. Even when he was a baby he'd face plant and just giggle or bang his head on the floor and only be annoyed by it. It takes something fairly painful for him to feel it strong enough to register as 'hurts'. It also means his idea of what feels like normal, moderated amount of strength to him when he's playing with a toy is actually rather hard and he tends to rough on his toys and always engaging in a very physical manner seeking that sensory input. Some of it is minor but upsetting to him, while some of it can be much more annoying to us who have to fix or replace things if they break.
His OT is fabulous and has provided a number of immediate and practical tools and therapies that are designed to integrate all the sensory input into the brain and enable his days to go smoother. But we were all quite concerned he doesn't seem to learn from the experiences and has difficulty incorporating what he knows into self regulation to the degree an average 4-5 year old can. While he is very bright (actually has tested quite high) and is keenly interested in a wide range of things his psychologist and I feel his brain is processing, recalling, linking and utilizing the information it encounters in a somewhat atypical manner. Put together with his intelligence, confidence that he can carry out his plans and tendancy to pick his opportunities with impressive skill daily life is full on. When we've had our appointments done in home, they've all observed you can explain something to him in very clear and age appropriate manner, with explanations of why, what to do instead, what could happen if he does it and what action will follow it. This is followed through consistently and fairly, with discussion afterwards. In the case of things he's done before, he also recalls how it felt physically and/or emotionally, how it affected others, recalls if he didn't like that and would like to avoid it again as well. Even doing "all the right things" though, it can make little difference! He demonstrates understanding of all individual bits but he doesn't seem to be able to link it up to come to the conclusion he needs to.
So now we're involved in the headache of trying to access further assessments and services for him, which are entangled with a plethora of bureaucratic red-tape and nonsense which is both stressful, confusing and emotional. In the meantime our good days are gold- he is a funny, sunny little boy who loves his sister and is better with her than many kids I've seen are with their siblings, adores dogs and cats and would desperately love to play Flyball with Hope, wants to go to 'clicker class' with me, loves to garden and especially finding worms to watch or worm holes in the soil, is completely obsessed with food/cooking and all things cheffing, art - especially painting and experimenting with different sorts of paints, clay work and adores anything which lets him run, jump, bounce, crash, flip or otherwise act like he needs to run away to the circus! Bad days... well, we won't go there! We just try to get through them and remember that as bad as they can be there are people out there who have far more to cope with with far less resources so we really are quite lucky especially in light of the number of people I know of directly and indirectly who are seriously ill or who have lost their lives or loved ones lately.
In more cheerful and less serious news Miss Hopie will start competing in Flyball before very long and have several comps around Victoria this year and into next! We're very excited and can't wait! Here's a video of our recent practice, the order of run is Sam (black/white BC), Hope, Quiche (yellow/white BC)
It's also looking like our foster kitty Emi FINALLY has a new home at long last and fingers crossed she will go to her new home on 12 Sept! After 8 months I'm so pleased to see her get her 'happily ever after' and see the faith we had that there WAS the perfect home out there for her somewhere rewarded!
I also decided to be brave and enter Hopie in our first real trials (the PT title, HIC and such being 'test levels' vs open trialing) in Started A course on sheep. I knew she could handle it but I have still got heaps to learn, so the real question was if I could handle well enough. The weather conditions meant that mud was about calf-deep and footing was very difficult to maintain for everyone involved. The result was that we made the first pass, albeit it was not a terribly impressive run given I cut short on the 4th post and I didn't do so well on the center-line gate because of it - poorly lined up! The second run went a lot better and would have been about a 80 except I bodged the Z chute the first go and it took me time to recover enough to get them through - poor Hopie! We had an absolute blast though and it gave me a lot of ideas of what I want to practice as I can't wait to enter again for next time!
We've also had our lovely (and admittedly my favorite) ewe Star become ill for reasons the vet couldn't pinpoint as the symptoms were pretty nondescript. She had a mild fever, some scours, wouldn't rise and if lifted to her legs would wobble and fall. Despite his giving us antibiotics and goodies to help bolter her she didn't make it and I'm now bottlefeeding Timtam.
Random last but not least is Cinna - she's discovered that if I've gotten up the bed is still warrrrrrmmm and makes a cozy spot! Don't know what I'd do without my bunnahs!
Earlier this year Laurent has been diagnosed with a proprioception sensory integration disorder and we've been working on this and the behavioural difficulties we'd been seeing with an occupational therapist and psychologist team. Basically proprioception has to do with the input gained from your muscles and joints. He is under responsive and as a result, rather than the information his senses provide integrating into one useful world picture, all that unorganized sensory input creates a traffic jam in his brain making it difficult to pay attention and learn while also causing him to seek out that missing sensory input. Sensory seeking behaviour for him typically comes in the form of wanting to hang off things, climb, crash, push, jump, fidget, pinch, twist, fiddle and be overly physical with objects etc. In hindsight it explains so many of the things we'd just chalked up to being individual quirks about him!
A 'side effect' of this under responsiveness is that he is also largely insensitive to pain. Consequently, where most people learn that things that hurt are to be avoided, he hardly notices tends to hurt himself fairly often. Even when he was a baby he'd face plant and just giggle or bang his head on the floor and only be annoyed by it. It takes something fairly painful for him to feel it strong enough to register as 'hurts'. It also means his idea of what feels like normal, moderated amount of strength to him when he's playing with a toy is actually rather hard and he tends to rough on his toys and always engaging in a very physical manner seeking that sensory input. Some of it is minor but upsetting to him, while some of it can be much more annoying to us who have to fix or replace things if they break.
His OT is fabulous and has provided a number of immediate and practical tools and therapies that are designed to integrate all the sensory input into the brain and enable his days to go smoother. But we were all quite concerned he doesn't seem to learn from the experiences and has difficulty incorporating what he knows into self regulation to the degree an average 4-5 year old can. While he is very bright (actually has tested quite high) and is keenly interested in a wide range of things his psychologist and I feel his brain is processing, recalling, linking and utilizing the information it encounters in a somewhat atypical manner. Put together with his intelligence, confidence that he can carry out his plans and tendancy to pick his opportunities with impressive skill daily life is full on. When we've had our appointments done in home, they've all observed you can explain something to him in very clear and age appropriate manner, with explanations of why, what to do instead, what could happen if he does it and what action will follow it. This is followed through consistently and fairly, with discussion afterwards. In the case of things he's done before, he also recalls how it felt physically and/or emotionally, how it affected others, recalls if he didn't like that and would like to avoid it again as well. Even doing "all the right things" though, it can make little difference! He demonstrates understanding of all individual bits but he doesn't seem to be able to link it up to come to the conclusion he needs to.
So now we're involved in the headache of trying to access further assessments and services for him, which are entangled with a plethora of bureaucratic red-tape and nonsense which is both stressful, confusing and emotional. In the meantime our good days are gold- he is a funny, sunny little boy who loves his sister and is better with her than many kids I've seen are with their siblings, adores dogs and cats and would desperately love to play Flyball with Hope, wants to go to 'clicker class' with me, loves to garden and especially finding worms to watch or worm holes in the soil, is completely obsessed with food/cooking and all things cheffing, art - especially painting and experimenting with different sorts of paints, clay work and adores anything which lets him run, jump, bounce, crash, flip or otherwise act like he needs to run away to the circus! Bad days... well, we won't go there! We just try to get through them and remember that as bad as they can be there are people out there who have far more to cope with with far less resources so we really are quite lucky especially in light of the number of people I know of directly and indirectly who are seriously ill or who have lost their lives or loved ones lately.
In more cheerful and less serious news Miss Hopie will start competing in Flyball before very long and have several comps around Victoria this year and into next! We're very excited and can't wait! Here's a video of our recent practice, the order of run is Sam (black/white BC), Hope, Quiche (yellow/white BC)
It's also looking like our foster kitty Emi FINALLY has a new home at long last and fingers crossed she will go to her new home on 12 Sept! After 8 months I'm so pleased to see her get her 'happily ever after' and see the faith we had that there WAS the perfect home out there for her somewhere rewarded!
I also decided to be brave and enter Hopie in our first real trials (the PT title, HIC and such being 'test levels' vs open trialing) in Started A course on sheep. I knew she could handle it but I have still got heaps to learn, so the real question was if I could handle well enough. The weather conditions meant that mud was about calf-deep and footing was very difficult to maintain for everyone involved. The result was that we made the first pass, albeit it was not a terribly impressive run given I cut short on the 4th post and I didn't do so well on the center-line gate because of it - poorly lined up! The second run went a lot better and would have been about a 80 except I bodged the Z chute the first go and it took me time to recover enough to get them through - poor Hopie! We had an absolute blast though and it gave me a lot of ideas of what I want to practice as I can't wait to enter again for next time!
We've also had our lovely (and admittedly my favorite) ewe Star become ill for reasons the vet couldn't pinpoint as the symptoms were pretty nondescript. She had a mild fever, some scours, wouldn't rise and if lifted to her legs would wobble and fall. Despite his giving us antibiotics and goodies to help bolter her she didn't make it and I'm now bottlefeeding Timtam.
Random last but not least is Cinna - she's discovered that if I've gotten up the bed is still warrrrrrmmm and makes a cozy spot! Don't know what I'd do without my bunnahs!
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