Introducing A New Feature of Lessons From and For 4 Legs

I have noticed lately while browsing some of my favorite blogs that many people who are making progress in their training have some sort of written goal system. A couple I really appreciate are Kathleens' curriculum for Zachary and Beau at BZ Dog and Crystals' Prime Directive at Reactive Champion.

Thus I have been working on having more organization to my "Plans, Contrivances, and Projects". So far I am calling it 4legged Full Life Harmony. Along with my posts on goals being under the label, "Plans, Contrivances, and Projects" there will now be a "4legged Full Life Harmony" page. As this may be something that makes sense only in my own head an introduction to this new feature of Lessons From and For 4 legs may be helpful.

It will be a place for me to keep track of my training goals. This will be a page where I can set and track the goals I have for my pups to help them live a fuller life in harmony with their 2legged community. Eventually it will be this, maybe. For now it is more a running list of the vision I have for me and my 4legged friends.

Inspired by Unit Studies at BZ Training I have so far chosen 7 units for us to work on: day to day skills, trouble spots, exercise, record keeping, fun and games, sports, and travels.

I'm going to try not to be too rigid in this as usually the more complicated I get with something the less I actually do it. But hopefully having more of an organized record for me to refer to will help me apply my plans. And maybe one day these baby plans will grow up to look like one of the fantastic grown-up goal plans cited in the beginning.

Oh, and one more thing as author and master of this blog I reserve the right to rescind any aspect of this contrivance if not functioning in harmony with my vision.

Not Sure Of The Purpose, But We Have A Plan!

So I have done some thinking and planning since last night and once again I am realizing how well Maizey is actually doing.

So more for my own information than because it is very entertaining I wanted to get down what I would like to accomplish this week.

Grooming with distractions.
A note on this we just did a long grooming session that included her ears (a major endeavor no matter how often we brush them). We also trimmed her long toe hair. I've tried explaining to her that it isn't lady-like to have toe hair, but alas she cares not at all about anything lady-like. The distraction was Lucy and Layla milling around and for the toe trim and toenail clipping we went out side. There were horses and cows and all kinds of sniffs, and it was gorgeous. So I'm counting that as distraction for me and Maizey!

Walking with distractions
I hope to test and film her LLW using the horses or the dogs in the fence as the distraction.

We will have many opportunities for dog socialization. Not only here with our "headed south getaway friends," but we also have a chance to go to puppy class and work while some friends practice agility at the park.

As for new Levels behaviors I want to work on target, trick, watch, go-to-mat which we cue as "park it." I am hoping to get some help on her stays.

There I feel better already, and even if we only get a fraction of that done it will still be good for both of us.

Disorganized Organization

I am the queen of plan making. But when it comes to accomplishing those plans I seem to be somewhere in the league of wicked step-sister.

But really, I can make a beautiful, detailed, well thought out plan. And I do, make many many plans. This is true of the four legged lessons too. But, alas, the plans so often fall by the wayside in the face of so many interruptions. So I thought I would try to put together a few tips for organizing regular dog training.

TIP #1:DON'T MAKE IT SO COMPLICATED!

Recently on the Training Levels Yahoo Group (a wealth of info everyone should tap into) there has been some discussion of journaling about Levels Training. There is a great on-line tracker specifically designed for this by someone is not only skilled at making plans, but very skilled at accomplishing them. (Unlike certain other two legged people(me) who shall remain nameless.) I fall into the category of making my journaling way too detailed so that it always gets left undone. So application of tip #1: I am going to pull up their journals and see where we are at.

TIP #2: EVERY LITTLE BIT COUNTS

I tend to be the all or nothing thinker, and try not to let that apply to working the pups. But, ahhh. . . .the fallacy of beautiful, complicated detailed plans: if I can't do the whole plan perfect its not to encouraging to even try. Here enters another thought from the wisdom of the Training Levels group members: even 30 seconds of work with their dinner is "daily work". Which is something both girls do nearly every day, so two wags for us! Another not-original-from-me (unfortunately) thought was to train a different behavior on each commercial break. Not sure that works for us as if its not on the DVR I don't watch it. But the principle is sound. 2-3 minutes of work on a particular behavior w/ a longer break in between and each session is a new behavior. Application of tip #2:start the laundry. . .do a short session. etc. . . etc. . .etc. . .

Real life work and lessons get done every day, all day in our house, but it is the regular, more structured sessions that I have been neglecting the past bit so hopefully this will help us get back on track. And now in the spirit of applying these useful organization tips I'm going to go start the laundry and work a go to mat session and then I am going to track it, so if you're interested in how we did hop over to Maizey's journal and check it out!