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.