So not only did Fizz come with an "auto sit to greet" feature, being the Deluxe model, she also came with "perfect article indications" for tracking. I swear I almost looked at her last night an said "come on, that's not funny!" Article between legs, in a gorgeous down. Umm.... ???? Where did THIS come from? Certainly it does not approximate any other behavior she's EVER been rewarded for. And quite frankly, of the 3 static positions (sit, down, stand)......I would say our 'down' flat out sucks. The whole episode was quite bizarre.
I had planned to just show her articles and try to free shape an indication. I put the first one on the ground, she ran to it, dropped in perfect position and indicated. So of course, me being the brilliant trainer that I am, said "nuh uh!!!" and got out article #2 (which looked entirely different from article #1), and threw it on the ground. Bang....article indication. WTF?!?! Erika?????????????
For her dinner last night we worked 2 similar round leather articles (look like beer coasters), a small black rectangular leather piece, a wooden block and a carpet square (boy does THAT rate high in Fizz's world!!!). Rotated through the various articles, and she was nailing her indications. I was doing NOTHING but standing, and throwing articles on the floor.
Twice, she looked at the article, than came to me and laid down in front of me. "I saw it, here I am!" I did not a thing, and she quickly got up, ran back to the article and laid down with it between her front paws. I NEVER ONCE lured this behavior. The hand-lure to the article was something that Froli got stuck on, so I swore I would only free-shape Fizz's articles. I hardly needed to do that.
Her only other bobble was lying down with it under her sternum. I laughed quietly to myself (so as not to reinforce an incorrect indication).....remembering Froli's SchH1 track on a cold morning in NY with hard frost on the long grass.....and Frol had planted herself firmly on top of the article. I kept pushing my hand further back under her, trying to grasp it, I swear I was almost to my elbow being at her elbows. That Frol dawg was NOT about to budge! HA!!! :)
After several rounds of putting the article out on the floor, I then called her into the hallway and had her sit. Returned to the room, put the article down, and then sent her into the room. Again, picture perfect. Worked through all the articles, and I even brought her into the room via a different entrance......no matter, lovely indication.
This afternoon for lunch, I decided to burst this silly bubble and see where we really were. Truly, what I had seen must have been a fluke. We took our articles outside to the lawn and she worked for her lunch. Sat her, tossed an article a few feet away, told her to find it. Off she went, nose hit article, dog in down. Seriously?!?? Two more, both gorgeous. Ok, fine. A line of 4 articles, about 6ft apart. Find it! Right to the first one perfectly. Reward, pick up and hold high to show our pretend judge, release dog to find it. thankfully, she didn't continue in a straight line to #2. I think I would have lost my mind at that point (as we've done NO tracking work). She went out on a current of wind, came back hard left and nailed #3. Wow! She worked #2 easily, so I set up 2 more in another area.
This portion apparently had more ground wind. She circled around a lot, and at one point, walked between two articles, each being about 12-14" from her. The fact that she went right past them was a pleasing sight.....it told me she was using her nose, NOT her eyes. YAY! :) She probably worked for 2-3 minutes trying to find those 2 articles, and I had a good chance to observe her body posture, behavior, etc. She was calm, focused, and when she was distracted by an 18-wheeler's loud horn, her head shot upright, she stopped, and then immediately went back to working the scent as if nothing had happened. VERY happy with that. Very happy with her work ethic in looking for the articles. Big praise party when she found the first one (carpet) and a jackpot to reward the prolonged work.
Our final article was planted about 20ft away, in a tall tuft of grass, right near my agility table. She almost bee-lined to it, found it quickly with some sniffing, and then kept nose touching it (vs. lying down). I'm not sure if the proximity to the table (purposeful) bothered her in the need to lie down, but it was intersting to see. I asked her "show me?" and she nose bobbed it hard and then looked back at me. I waited her out, and suddenly the down appeared, and she got the bowl with her remaining lunch. :)
I think we're soon going to try some tracks, and she will have articles on them from a very early stage. :) Just ADORE this puppy, she amazes me in almost every session we work. So much fun ahead!!
