Tracking with the PEEBs

Millie -- Obstacles Practice AM, Article Game PM Two different sessions with Millie today, since the weather was beautiful. Morning--5-turn (4 open, 1 90°), 275 yard track with changes of cover and two road crossings. Sunny, 56°, calm. Low humidity. Food drops every 30 yards or so, and high-value food drops after negotiating challenges.      The start and most of the first leg were mediocre--I thought that distractibility was going to be a problem all along today--she was sniffing hard at everything but the track, and she seemed to lose it for a bit after the transition from medium to short grass. But she made the first turn ok, and about a quarter of the way down the second leg she started working the track nicely. She had to work a bit on the first road crossing, but made got to the far side about 2 feet wide left. She made a nice transition from medium grass to the rough stuff with no hesitation, and negotiated the second turn and the long third leg through the brush w...

 February 24, 2025 Article game outside--Millie had a great time! I started to get the hang of the timing, although I am still having a hard time avoiding eye contact. The last one was almost perfect!

 Millie Stair-Step February 23, 2025 Not much commentary on the video. What is here is here, and it can be interpreted by anyone. Millie and I discussed it, and after a cup of Joe for me and a biscuit for her we decided we needed to get out and stretch our legs.  Sod the article exercises.   What was supposed to be a 6-turn stair-step (strictly accordingly to the manual as far as scuffs, food-drops and turns were concerned) turned into a 7-turn exercise, because the useless sack of s.... handler lost track of how many legs we had done. Nonetheless, Millie had a good  start ( any arguments ?). Some of the turns had markers  (clips with streamers [my washers are still in the other car]), others completely "in the open" without markers). Did all of the turns close to the mark, and on one of them (particularly turn 3, after all the tire marks), like she was on rails. Not perfect. She seems to go 10 or 20 feet beyond the turn before she really shows loss of scent, bu...

Millie--Article work February 22, 2025 Worked with Millie and articles in a larger room today, trying two variations. In the first I scattered 7-8 articles around the room and then took her in, and waited for her to look at each and indicate. The second is a little more along the lines of what Mary Ann does in her video; I walked Millie around in the room where I had dropped something, and waited for her to indicate, then threw another article (hopefully while she was busy eating the reward from the first one), and repeated. I liked the second one better, although the timing of my clicks and rewards still is really off on many articles (although spot-on in some).  

Millie Articles February 21, 2025 This time I scattered numerous articles around the room before leading her in. I got some nice response, and I think I was probably too strict in waiting for a down right in front   of the article instead of simple near or next to it. Tomorrow I'm going to move the exercise to a new. much larger room, where I can walk her around better. We're also going back out into the field for a stair-step exercise. I'm putting out a few articles on that track, but am not expecting miracles. I think it will take a while to move from the specific, controlled exercise into something more general. Still, it will be fun to see.

Day 5 of Article Game with Millie February 20, 2025 We're getting lots of downs on articles on the floor now. From a standing position I'm trying to observe exactly when she's down without making eye contact, but my peripheral vision needs a bit of training yet. Also trying to treat her in a way where she is not constantly looking to me for the food, but when you're using kibble to reward raining the kibble from the sky onto an article on a hardwood floor means kibble bouncing all over the room. I'll have to refine the technique.

 February 19, 2025 Articles Giving me regular downs now. I'm still having a hard time coordinating articles and rewards, but she loves the game, even if it means her breakfast is delayed. I need to get a more stable ottoman on which to sit--this one kept tipping forward whenever I'd have to lean over to treat on a distant article.

Articles Day 3 February 18, 2025 She has caught on very quickly. She's giving me not just a sniff and a nudge at the article, but at least half the time a down. Of course, smart girl that she is, some of the time she will just try a down in front of me, wherever the article might be--if a down or sit works, it works! Once or twice I reflexively rewarded that, which of course was counterproductive, but I have also learned to wait and make her go the the article and try it again.

 Articles Day 2 Millie has really caught onto the idea of showing me the article. At 4:30 this morning, before coffee,    I  was having a lot of trouble coordinating the articles, clicking at the right time, and rewarding promptly without losing control of the bowl of kibble. But she is a smart and eager pupil, and I am excited about how quickly she caught on. Back to it again next Monday.

 Millie--Indoor Article Practice. First time doing this, and in spite of numerous difficulties I think she made some progress  She was frantic, FRANTIC, after the other dogs had gotten their food and she hadn't. It took her some time to calm down enough to even pay attention to what was on the floor. Timing. I didn't always click at the right moment, and I kept knocking the lightweight container of food around. Sometimes I suspect I shouldn't have clicked at all. Camera--positioned too low, so that Millie's body is blocking the action. I only realized this morning that the GoPro does not have a threaded hole for mounting to a tripod, so I had to put it on a chair. I've got a tripod mount coming on Saturday. Nonetheless she started to get the idea. She did things right several times in a row after minute 16.

February 7, 2025 Millie Article Track. 250 yards, 30 min old. 6 articles aside from start. Sunny, mid-50s, light breeze, low humidity. I don't have much commentary to share with this video, except that I was perplexed by her distractibility from the very beginning. (Walk a few paces, then go off, then walk a bit, then go off again). I did try to restrain her from exploring, but we seem to have had trouble concentrating on the track. I also made the mistake of giving treats--from my hand--that were too  high value (freshly cooked duck liver) whenever she found an article, so that with the second and subsequent articles her focus was too much on getting treats. I shall have to go to the "treats raining from heaven" approach when she is about to indicate. (Problem is that my aim is not very good). And on the whole her indications were indistinct. She seemed more inclined to indicate turn markers than actual articles, and missed the last two or three articles altogether. I re...

February 5, 2025 Millie -- Starts. Four starts, 2, 3, 4 and 5 hours old. First leg distance varies from about 50 to 100 yards; second legs all about 35 yards except for the last track, which is 50 yards. Except on the second track I made sure that the article could not be seen at more than 10 feet, and even on the second track it is dark and thin. Overcast, 45°, light breeze. RH 42%. The starts themselves all seemed decisive and confident, even though on all the tracks except the first I consciously started her at 90° off line with the first leg. On the last (5 hour) track I kept facing the wrong way until well after I had let the line run about 10' and she had started pulling me down the track. All this being said, I realized that I had always laid my start tracks on this field with the same orientation, and that she might just be cueing off of that. I'm not sure--she did seem to sniff and search before picking the right line, but it is just possible that she is going from exp...

February 1, 2025 Millie Six-Turn Stair-Step. Goal: Develop a better sense of when she is/is not showing commitment at a turn, and to work on letting her take more responsibility for the decision when  I know she has the right line and is not merely exploring.  360 yards, aged 1:40. Sunny, 57°, Light Breeze. Low Humidity.  Markers 5 yards before each turn. Generally a good track, but she gave me far more practice in keeping her from going off and exploring than I was hoping for.  Start was good, and first two legs were fine. I was particularly pleased with the way she took the second corner. Some distraction on third leg and subsequent legs. She had to work some at the third (left) turn at wood line, but eventually got it right. From the video it looks as though I guided her when she was having a lot of trouble on the sixth leg; I also should have offered her water at that point. Struggled considerably on the final leg So-so indications on several articles (although s...