Plenty in Life is Free?.. or is it?

This is sort of off topic for this blog, but I feel like I need somewhere to put it and this is handy. If you're not interested, please just skip this post!

I've recently read Plenty in Life is Free by Kathy Sdao. I ordered the book at Clicker Expo, and it arrived right before Dr Yin's seminar here in Kamloops. While she was here, my friend Stephanie read the book, as did Allison. I didn't get a chance to read it until this weekend. I was initially really disappointed that I hadn't had the chance to read it before meeting Dr Yin, as I was planning to discuss some of it with her. Now that I've read it, I'm no longer concerned.

I want to say, these are just my thoughts. I am in no way trying to represent what Kathy is trying to say, nor am I making recommendations for anyone else.

I'm not sure what I expected from the book. I guess I mostly was expecting Kathy to challenge my thoughts on setting boundaries for dogs, to make me reconsider. I had no idea what it would be like. After Stephanie read it, she said she found it challenging and thought some of what she said was worth considering. She also mentioned it had a bit of a story-style, with unrelated stories and tangents throughout.

Allison pointed out a couple of passages that referred directly to Kathy's thoughts on how dog training related to her religion (catholicism, near as I can tell). I admit this turned me off a bit, but the title had turned me off too, and I was determined to keep an open mind and READ the book before drawing any conclusions.

Alright, so now I've got to actually READ the book, yes?

I read the first couple chapters, then set it down for a day (life got in the way). Today, I finished it. I think some of what she says is useful, especially in how it's framed (to present to clients). I think much of the book is not really relevant (the religious stuff was hard to get through). And I think mostly, she's not saying anything that contradicts what I already know/believe. I think that's where I was most disappointed.. I was looking for a challenge.

Useful:
Discussion around "Reward any behaviour the dog does except the three you consider most annoying". I actually have a client I'd like to try this, most of his behaviour is annoying house demanding behaviour. I can't see it being very helpful for outside the home though.

The reframing of training in the "If not NILIF..." is good for clients, I think. SMARTx50 is nice, though I'd like to see it much much higher. And I'd have them use their dog's regular ration. If they're not earning enough to eat, IMO, your criteria is too high!
"The situation is the command" is how I do most of my NILIF work anyway.
Choice Architect is useful for some clients, I think. Again, it's how I'm already doing it.
I also like the idea of having the client make a list (on PAPER) of the actual behaviours that make up a good dog.
I think the advice to "ignore harmless nuisance behaviours" is a tricky one. Great in theory, but we all know nuisance behaviours that turn into really nasty dangerous behaviours!! Not advice I'd choose to give most clients.

The photo album idea is much the same as the first (she states this). A nice analogy, though.

The premack stuff sounds like pretty much exactly how I usually do NILIF.

on Page 74, she basically explains NILIF as I see it. "I will feed the dogs their minimal calories every day (...) Yet I still can use most of all of these calories to reinforce good behaviour."
She goes on to state she will still feed him, for "do something as inoffensive as possible" which I would call DROP MY CRITERIA. Pretty standard, I think! (hope)

The second to last paragraph on page 84: "How is this different.... a request to move)." basically sums up the way I use NILIF already.

The end bit about not hating people sort of struck me as something I should consider more.

In summary, clearly for Kathy, this was a huge mind shift. Either I've already had it, or I was taught by people who had. I never got too hung up in dominance theory, even though I trained with corrections for a long time. No one ever explained why, and I never asked. By the time I was seriously introduced to it, I was pretty much sucked into the "good side" so I guess it didn't affect me much. So, NILIF wasn't a "this is how we can have a good pack without alpha rolls", ever. It was "Use what dogs are getting anyway to ensure you've got good behaviour". I do think uncued (environmentally cued) say-please is more effective, but I see the advantages of cued permission as well. I don't think I'd see any of the downfall she mentions from simply ensuring that the reinforcers I'm giving anyway are given in a strategic and timely manner. I do have concerns that "regular people" or even some trainers may read this book and not understand it's intent (or maybe they will and I do not..) and read it as "you need to be more permissive and set less boundaries", which I forsee as problematic.

Thoughts?

Gentoo - now Sasha - update!

Sasha is having a great time in her new home!!

West Update.. Wow!!

An email from Valerie, West's new owner..


Hi Courtenay,
West went to his first "fun trial" this week end and did reaaaaaaaaaaaally well.
I entered him in a standard run and a jumpers.
I wasn't too sure how he was going to do on the course with the judge and all.
He never even noticed the judge, very focused on me and his job.
He is so fast.
I decided to enter him in a second jumper run.
He ran it in 33,83 secs (sct 40) and was clean !!!
He was very good with the people and dogs around, tryed to keep him safe and comfy.
I also had Nina with me.
I have attached a couple of pictures, he looks very muddy because we were just playing in a VERY muddy field (obviously)
It's way to early to enter him in a real trial but it was a great little exercise, i'm sure proud of him.




Of course we still have some issues, herding Nina, barking at some men but he is getting better all the time.
I will try to send you a video of West and his new friend, Cheyenne, the blind puppy that my friend Anne got through Shenna.
They are really good buddys and have great plays.

I hope all is well at your end,
cheers,
Valerie

Gentoo has a home!

The foster puppy was adopted! She went to her new home this week, and so far, I haven't heard that she's eaten their house! :)

Congrats on a great home, pup!

Goughnut Unboxing!

For Christmas, both the boys got a Goughnut toy. The shipping was significantly less to Portland, where I was going end of January, so the toys were shipped there. Once I finally got them, I discovered they'd sent the wrong toys!

I had suggested a red Ball for Archie, and a Black Goughnut for Reiker. The order was accidentally put in incorrectly, for a red Ball and a .75 (small) Black Goughnut. I received a Black Ball and a .75 Black Goughnut.

I emailed the company, and they strongly recommended returning the .75 for the full size version. I sent them the toy and ~$10 USD, and waited.

This week, the full size Goughnut arrived in the mail! I took the package outside and brought Reiker out to open it. I tied him up just so my hands were free for running the camera.

Oh, and Archie loves his Goughnut Ball!

Let the cramming begin..

So, I agreed to run Reiker in Novice Team at our upcoming CARO trial with a friend's belgian. We're NOT running for Q's (neither of our dogs is really Q-able yet), but just for ring experience and a good time. And a good time it should be!

Reiker's drop behaviour is strong enough that I can start using it for training occasionally. We did about 10 reps of Drop, line up in heel (using the wall), Yes, catch toy, tug x 5 sec, repeat. By the last couple, he was getting pretty aroused, so I left him (loose!) in the bedroom for a second while I went to get some treats.

A handful of cat kibble's worth of practicing modified Choose-to-heel, hand targets from heel position, Eye contact, regular hand targets, a few sits, and some lured left turns. I like the hand target left turn from him way better, but not sure I'll get it if he has any distraction on his mind at the trial.

I suspect we need to do some parallel walking and relax games with Fawkes, our partner dog, before the trial. Which is March 18th, by the way.

Hopefully I can find some more time this week to practice! We have an "official" practice tomorrow, not sure if I can bring both boys, but I'll try. If I can only bring one, do I bring my new-to-Excellent (no food, no toys!) dog, or my new-to-rally dog?? Neither is really running for Qs!

Wubba wubba wubba

Sure glad I just ordered a half dozen more of these...

Clean and pretty

After two blow-dry sessions with the forced air dryer, and a scrubby shampoo, he's finally fluffy and not shedding six cats worth of fur!

A video from the cabin..

From a couple months ago..

West's agility update

West's forever home sent this video a few months ago and I just never got it posted:




She just sent this one today.. Look how far he's come!

West says Happy Valentines Day

I love Pet Expertise. They have great products and fantastic service, plus they're holding a very cool Valentine's day facebook contest!

I entered a photo of West from last summer, thought some of you might like to go "like" his photo!

Click here to see it on Facebook

Reiker with a ball

Puppy plays with Reiker

I took this video from inside my livingroom through the glass on an iphone, so the quality is not good! But it's still very cute to see Reiker adapting his play style to a young pup!

Reiker learning Rally?

So I may or may not have promised a friend that if she entered her golden in the next rally trial, I'd enter Reiker.. heh.
Archie's in Excellent now, which I suspect is a long term plateau for us. So, Reiker's prepping for novice.
Mary invited us to her Rally intro class on Wed nights, so we went. He was doing fairly well, focused, then someone in the class squeaked a toy. 10 minutes later, I was able to mostly get his focus back, then Mary took out a ball.. sigh.
Aside from his toy obsession though, his focus is quite nice. PREMACK forever.
His heel is non existant, but his stay is good. I'm working Helix's backwards walking stuff, with hope it'll transition nicely into heel. Otherwise, the judge might get to watch us do the course in reverse! :)

Fancy Poster!

Share, print, etc!

Oh hi, camera!

Freedom?

d'awwwww

Baaaaaaaad puppy

A real puppy post..

I'm calling her Gentoo, for now. Her Petfinder link:


Her Facebook photo album:

Click Here

And the website for the Kamloops Humane Society, if you want to apply to adopt her!

Click Here