Changing Directions

Today was more of the same from yesterday, but I started with a twist. I always do some review with Matilda right at the beginning to see what she is going to be like and get us both on happy, solid ground with the familiar. I really had no plan for today and when I looked at Matilda I just couldn't bring myself to ask her to do anything. She was watching me (and the carrot pail) so I just put my hands behind my back and said "What do you want to do today? Show me something." Bet everyone can guess what she did. After some careful consideration, she backed up. Her favorite.

Then she stopped and came forward.... so she could back up again. This went on for a while before I got bored, stopped clicking for backing and said, "Show me something else". Of course, Matilda can't understand me, so she continued backing and coming forward and backing. When she realized I wasn't clicking for it, she stopped and thought about things. (You can actually see the wheels turn). She tried a few more times and was getting frustrated with her ears pinned back and trying to bite the pail. (Yes, back to that, but still not as aggressive as she used to be).

She needed some help and guidance from me. Standing directly in front of her, I took one large step to my right. She followed, stepping to her left with her front feet in order to mirror me. Click! I went back the other way, she followed again. Click! We did this again and again, back and forth. I only looked for movement from her front feet, since I was doing something a little different in not applying physical pressure to her side.

We worked this little project until I could shift my weight onto my right foot, throw my thumb over my right shoulder like a hitchhiker, tilt my head right and say "over" and she would step out to the left. Throw everything the other way and she would step out and to the right. It was like a little dance. I was shifting my weight from side to side and she would step out, cross her leg over and bring her feet together. I thought that was pretty cool.

After a while, though, I wanted more. I really wanted her to move her entire body over in that lateral step that we've been working on. To see if we could take it to the next level, I threw my weight onto my right and said "over", like we had been doing, she took her step but this time no click. I just stood there and waited to see what she would do next. She took another step, but only with her front feet. I had to reward the effort. Click!

We continued on, with me holding out longer and longer, waiting for the hind feet to do something. They finally did but what I ended up with was not really what I was looking for. Rather than moving her entire body sideways in a sort of parallel motion, she would move her front feet a couple of steps sideways and her hind would simply follow making it more of a turn and walk forward rather than the true lateral movement I have been talking about.

That description is a little confusing. Let me rephrase: Basically, every time I shift my weight, she is actually changing direction (with her head towards me, yay!) and walking a step forward. I can see that this could be a really cool thing down the road, if I can keep my focus and stay consistent with my cues and rewards. I hope that makes sense, I don't know how else to describe what she was doing.

We moved back to the hay feeder and target stick exercise, encouraging her to walk forward and turn/change direction by following the target stick. She was able to complete one full walking circle around the feeder today. That sounds easy but she actually gets frustrated when I ask her to walk more than 3 steps at a time so we built up to it and I was really pleased with her for making it all the way around.

So, what next? I am going to keep on with what we did today. I love that change of direction that appeared. I want to continue working on this stuff that we know pretty well and make sure that Matilda is listening to me. When we work on something for a while, that becomes the only thing that she wants to do, no matter what I am asking. With the back, come, whoa and now (hopefully) over/change of direction we should have enough of a variety to mix things up and see if she learns to watch, listen and recognize the signals that I am giving.

I will also continue to work on walking in circles and turn/change of direction. Over the next week, I would like to see if I can get her to either walk in a circle around me without the feeder or walk around the feeder without the target stick. That's a little ways off but we'll see. Anything is possible, it seems.

Now, with two ways of asking her to change direction, I will have to make a decision as to which word I want to use so that I am using the same one all the time, whether out in the paddock or around the feeder with the target stick... or maybe I will ditch both and say "change!" I will have to decide quickly so that I don't spend any more time using the "wrong" word. I guess I can't make things anymore confusing for her. Or can I??