6 months 26 days
2011/08/17
Ladies and gentlemen, I have a water dog.
Summary: I taught Syn to retrieve and come using the Training Levels. We worked halfway through Level 2 in everything. Last week we worked a bit specifically on retrieving her bumper, her buoy line, and a buoy. Last week we also worked for 10 minutes on retrieving her sinking toy from an inch and a half of water in the bathtub, during which I saw her begin to understand that she had to hold her breath or blow bubbles while her nose was underwater. Three times I took her into the swim spa (large hot tub set at exercising temperature rather than hot tub temp) and alternately held her and got her to swim, rewarding hugely. I showed her where the corner seat was and told her to go to mat on the seat frequently so she never had a chance to get tired or worried. Since the seat is perfectly situated (far enough under water) for her to stand on and feel safe but to launch easily back into swimming from, we practised launching a lot.
Today: I took Syn and Stitch to the beach. I was going to work Stitch first to let Syn watch and get used to the new surroundings, but she told me quite vociferously (not to mention vocally) that she was not prepared to sit quietly tied to a tree while Stitch got to chase bumpers - surprise, she's very good at this at home. So I tied up Stitch and took Syn down to the water. It's a nice little beach, with quite a long walk out (maybe 30 feet) before it gets to swimming depth for a dog this size.
First I let her sniff the grass, the sand, and the water. Then I asked her to get excited about a bumper and tossed it for her four or five times on the grass and onto the sand. Ee hah, she was very happy to be chasing down the bumper ad returning it to my hand. Even more excited to see there were wieners involved.
Then I tossed it just into the water. A bit of a splash. No problem with that. She lipped the bumper a couple of times before she decided she could pick it up out of the water just as easily as she'd done on land. She brought it back, got her treat, and I tossed it again into the water, this time a little further out. After 5 water tosses, I thought she might be getting a little slow (which is to say she was only jumping 2 feet into the air before pouncing on the bumper in the water) so I tossed it on the grass again. That revved her up enough that I went back to the "wet work". Several times she grabbed at the bumper sideways, which meant that she had her entire muzzle underwater as she grabbed it.
She was having such a good time with the bumper that I tossed the buoy line in - no problem. In fact, it might have been more fun because she had to make a decision about where to grab it. Then I tried the big buoy ball that she won't need until she gets to Working. Again, no problem. Even the heavy ball bouncing against her as she brought it back didn't bother her.
OK, little miss, let's try the sinking toy. I walked her into the lake up to my ankles, showed her the toy, rewarded her once for reaching for it, then dropped it into the water. One part was sticking up above the water about half an inch. No problem, and she remembered the bubbles. I moved it back and forth - she had a bit of trouble when the whole thing was an inch under the water - mostly with knowing where it was, I think, but she's beginning to understand that if she reaches where she saw it drop, she'll find it. At one point she reached under the water to get it, didn't hit it, and then kept her head under the water for at least 4 seconds feeling around for it (that's a VERY good thing).
Right, back to the bumper and some general silliness. Twice she was bringing it back to me so fast she tripped in the water and plowed in nose first, with her whole head underwater and her tail trying to teach her to do a somersault. I was afraid this would scare her, but she wasn't bothered at all. (EE HAH).
And here comes the big test. Am I going to spend the rest of the week trying to teach her to swim? No, I'm not. With her beside me, rewarding her regularly, I walked into the water (what're we doing, ma? We're walkin' in the water! You and me, walkin' in the water! Fun, right?!). Yeah, sweetie, it's all fun and games until someone winds up in a cone... with my heart in my mouth but no hesitation, I continue walking. She walked beside me, she walked beside me, she splashed the odd paw, and she was swimming. No hesitation, no fuss, no worry, no bother. Walking, swimming. Then walking again, heading desperately for shore... no, just walking, hanging with me, turning willingly back to where she had to swim again. EE EE HAH HAH!
We swam and walked for another 5 minutes and then went to shore. I had a friend hold her while I walked back out to swimming depth. I called her and she came into the water and swam like a little torpedo to me.
Further summary: she doesn't have the distance she's going to need for the water trial, but this IS, after all, the first time she's ever seen real water in a real lake. She was brilliant. I'm SO excited. I was hoping we could go to the trial and (pass or fail) put on a reasonable performance and have her enjoy herself. If she couldn't enjoy it, I wouldn't put her in the water. Now I think I'd have to kick her around the parking lot to convince her not to enjoy the experience. And she SWAM. And she put her head under water. And she retrieved. I am SO pumped.
Oh, Stitch was grand too. She remembered she could enjoy jumping off things (a dock in this case), and how to get back on it, and her retrieving, of course, was exemplary.
Another example of long memories, though. TWO YEARS AGO, in a water trial where Stitch didn't think she could enjoy jumping off perfectly good boats, and in a fairly swift-flowing river, she was supposed to jump off a boat and retrieve a bumper, the buoy line, and a buoy that I'd "dropped" overboard. By the time I had convinced her to get off the boat and she'd retrieved the bumper and the line, the ball was long gone downstream. She chased it quite a way, but by then it was heading for "open ocean" and she had no hope of catching it. Finally in frustration she turned and headed for shore, sat down with a thunk and sat there glaring at me. The last thing I wanted to do was frustrate her that much, but it happened.
Today, she cheerfully jumped off the dock and retrieved the bumper and the line. There was a bit of a breeze and the ball was heading for the other side of the beach. She chased it a bit, then veered off and headed for shore. I invited her to get the ball, and cued LEFT for her to turn back toward it. She did veer left, but then headed for shore again. Again I cued LEFT and GET IT and GOOD GIRL and YOU CAN DO IT, and she did. She believed me. She went left and got the ball. Don't THINK we didn't have a big party when she got back to the dock!
So today was a truly superb day. I'm thrilled. If I can get Syn to Courier Water Dog with the joy she showed today... well, I think a lot of people will be thrilled.
Oh, and while I was gassing up the truck this afternoon (no internet access at the lake) I got notification that, out of 814 entries, my photo of Syn & Stitch is going in the Nutmeg PWD 2012 calendar (Google it, order one, this is the BEST calendar, and proceeds go to research). Meh, OK sort of day...
sinking toy 
buoy line
bumpers
buoy ball Photos cadged from www.4mypwds.com
Summary: I taught Syn to retrieve and come using the Training Levels. We worked halfway through Level 2 in everything. Last week we worked a bit specifically on retrieving her bumper, her buoy line, and a buoy. Last week we also worked for 10 minutes on retrieving her sinking toy from an inch and a half of water in the bathtub, during which I saw her begin to understand that she had to hold her breath or blow bubbles while her nose was underwater. Three times I took her into the swim spa (large hot tub set at exercising temperature rather than hot tub temp) and alternately held her and got her to swim, rewarding hugely. I showed her where the corner seat was and told her to go to mat on the seat frequently so she never had a chance to get tired or worried. Since the seat is perfectly situated (far enough under water) for her to stand on and feel safe but to launch easily back into swimming from, we practised launching a lot.
Today: I took Syn and Stitch to the beach. I was going to work Stitch first to let Syn watch and get used to the new surroundings, but she told me quite vociferously (not to mention vocally) that she was not prepared to sit quietly tied to a tree while Stitch got to chase bumpers - surprise, she's very good at this at home. So I tied up Stitch and took Syn down to the water. It's a nice little beach, with quite a long walk out (maybe 30 feet) before it gets to swimming depth for a dog this size.
First I let her sniff the grass, the sand, and the water. Then I asked her to get excited about a bumper and tossed it for her four or five times on the grass and onto the sand. Ee hah, she was very happy to be chasing down the bumper ad returning it to my hand. Even more excited to see there were wieners involved.
Then I tossed it just into the water. A bit of a splash. No problem with that. She lipped the bumper a couple of times before she decided she could pick it up out of the water just as easily as she'd done on land. She brought it back, got her treat, and I tossed it again into the water, this time a little further out. After 5 water tosses, I thought she might be getting a little slow (which is to say she was only jumping 2 feet into the air before pouncing on the bumper in the water) so I tossed it on the grass again. That revved her up enough that I went back to the "wet work". Several times she grabbed at the bumper sideways, which meant that she had her entire muzzle underwater as she grabbed it.
She was having such a good time with the bumper that I tossed the buoy line in - no problem. In fact, it might have been more fun because she had to make a decision about where to grab it. Then I tried the big buoy ball that she won't need until she gets to Working. Again, no problem. Even the heavy ball bouncing against her as she brought it back didn't bother her.
OK, little miss, let's try the sinking toy. I walked her into the lake up to my ankles, showed her the toy, rewarded her once for reaching for it, then dropped it into the water. One part was sticking up above the water about half an inch. No problem, and she remembered the bubbles. I moved it back and forth - she had a bit of trouble when the whole thing was an inch under the water - mostly with knowing where it was, I think, but she's beginning to understand that if she reaches where she saw it drop, she'll find it. At one point she reached under the water to get it, didn't hit it, and then kept her head under the water for at least 4 seconds feeling around for it (that's a VERY good thing).
Right, back to the bumper and some general silliness. Twice she was bringing it back to me so fast she tripped in the water and plowed in nose first, with her whole head underwater and her tail trying to teach her to do a somersault. I was afraid this would scare her, but she wasn't bothered at all. (EE HAH).
And here comes the big test. Am I going to spend the rest of the week trying to teach her to swim? No, I'm not. With her beside me, rewarding her regularly, I walked into the water (what're we doing, ma? We're walkin' in the water! You and me, walkin' in the water! Fun, right?!). Yeah, sweetie, it's all fun and games until someone winds up in a cone... with my heart in my mouth but no hesitation, I continue walking. She walked beside me, she walked beside me, she splashed the odd paw, and she was swimming. No hesitation, no fuss, no worry, no bother. Walking, swimming. Then walking again, heading desperately for shore... no, just walking, hanging with me, turning willingly back to where she had to swim again. EE EE HAH HAH!
We swam and walked for another 5 minutes and then went to shore. I had a friend hold her while I walked back out to swimming depth. I called her and she came into the water and swam like a little torpedo to me.
Further summary: she doesn't have the distance she's going to need for the water trial, but this IS, after all, the first time she's ever seen real water in a real lake. She was brilliant. I'm SO excited. I was hoping we could go to the trial and (pass or fail) put on a reasonable performance and have her enjoy herself. If she couldn't enjoy it, I wouldn't put her in the water. Now I think I'd have to kick her around the parking lot to convince her not to enjoy the experience. And she SWAM. And she put her head under water. And she retrieved. I am SO pumped.
Oh, Stitch was grand too. She remembered she could enjoy jumping off things (a dock in this case), and how to get back on it, and her retrieving, of course, was exemplary.
Another example of long memories, though. TWO YEARS AGO, in a water trial where Stitch didn't think she could enjoy jumping off perfectly good boats, and in a fairly swift-flowing river, she was supposed to jump off a boat and retrieve a bumper, the buoy line, and a buoy that I'd "dropped" overboard. By the time I had convinced her to get off the boat and she'd retrieved the bumper and the line, the ball was long gone downstream. She chased it quite a way, but by then it was heading for "open ocean" and she had no hope of catching it. Finally in frustration she turned and headed for shore, sat down with a thunk and sat there glaring at me. The last thing I wanted to do was frustrate her that much, but it happened.
Today, she cheerfully jumped off the dock and retrieved the bumper and the line. There was a bit of a breeze and the ball was heading for the other side of the beach. She chased it a bit, then veered off and headed for shore. I invited her to get the ball, and cued LEFT for her to turn back toward it. She did veer left, but then headed for shore again. Again I cued LEFT and GET IT and GOOD GIRL and YOU CAN DO IT, and she did. She believed me. She went left and got the ball. Don't THINK we didn't have a big party when she got back to the dock!
So today was a truly superb day. I'm thrilled. If I can get Syn to Courier Water Dog with the joy she showed today... well, I think a lot of people will be thrilled.
Oh, and while I was gassing up the truck this afternoon (no internet access at the lake) I got notification that, out of 814 entries, my photo of Syn & Stitch is going in the Nutmeg PWD 2012 calendar (Google it, order one, this is the BEST calendar, and proceeds go to research). Meh, OK sort of day...
sinking toy buoy linebumpers buoy ball Photos cadged from www.4mypwds.com