Words for the Day

Heavy storms came through my area last night and I blew into the barn this morning wondering what kind of Matilda I would be faced with today. Would the charged atmosphere and cooler temps have her charged as well, or would she resemble the calm after the storm?

The answer? I was met by the Matilda who likes to sleep on her side in the mud. Thank goodness I don't have to try to clean this up... yet.

When I woke up this morning two words popped into my head: focus and fine-tuning (well, maybe three words, but you get my drift). It is time for Matilda and I to start fine-tuning these behaviors that we have roughly sketched in to her repertoire. Well past time, actually. Time to turn them into something a little less muddy and haphazard.

Today we started with ye olde reliable: "back", with some "whoa" and "stay" thrown in because they fit together. I wanted to be very specific and a little more knit picky about everything I was doing, aka focused. To keep me focused and on task, I made up random rules for the day:

"Back" - point at Matilda, say "Back". When she moves backwards, lower arm and click as the arm comes down. Click after 1 step back, repeat 3 times, then after 2 steps, then 3 steps, etc.

If all goes well, pointing becomes the cue for backing up, lowering the arm becomes the cue for stopping.

"Stay" - work on building time. Don't try to move around her, keep it simple. Take a deep breath and let your body settle, arms at your side, as you exhale and say "stay". Start with a 3 count and work up to 30 seconds.

I came up with those rules in the car, then wrote them down in my little notebook as soon as I got to the barn so that I would remember them. I love detailed rules like this. Not that I am in any way OCD or anything but they are so helpful. They give you clarity and goals and keep you doing the same thing in the same way every time. Good grief, I may write a love song to little, made up rules later.

Following these rules worked. By the end of our time, which was too short, Matilda was taking 5 good steps back after only one request. She continued to frequently offer the behavior unasked for but I think if I can be super patient and wait for her to stop moving completely before asking her to back up, I can eliminate it. I still have a habit of asking her to do stuff before she has really given me her attention. I get bored standing there watching her go back and forth and jump the gun. The fault is mine. As usual. grrrrr.

She was only able to stand still for up to 12 seconds, but I knew that would continue to be a tough one. I suppose it is difficult to understand being rewarded for doing nothing..... I just realized what I did wrong, too. If I want her to stand for 30 seconds, I should click and reward every 5 seconds for 30 seconds, then every 10 seconds for 30 seconds, etc. Not count until she looks like she is going to move then only click and reward once right before she moves... Shoot, I got that all backwards today. I'll try the other way tomorrow. Something to look forward to.

Also, my big sigh and settling didn't work. Every time I looked at her and took a deep breath she started backing up before I could say anything. She did better when I just stood still, looked at her and said "stay" nice and firm. Wouldn't you know that my breathing gets in her way?

I wish there were infinite hours in the day and that I had a magic carrot pail. One that continues to give carrots as long as things are going well, but dries up quickly on bad days. That would be so nice... So would a billion dollars, as long as I'm wishing.

The upshot: This worked today. Very well. Focus and fine-tuning - not just words for the day, but for the week. I plan on continuing to work just these 3 behaviors for the rest of the week. I want them to be habit for her, reliable for me. It's good to know that, just in the time I've been writing this, I have come up with new and (I hope) better ways to work this stuff. We'll see which Matilda I face tomorrow. I hope it's one of the good ones.