June 30, 2023: I follow the plan! Woohooo!
After having succeeded outdoors, I stuck to the plan this time – hence the title: round 2 (the 2nd stab at distraction recalls) .3 (level 3: off leash) in our first location with our first distraction.
FUTURE ME CHIMING IN HERE FROM A BIRD’S EYE VIEW:
Steps we have already tested out of are indicated by a check mark, past steps I skipped are crossed out and the steps I am tackling in this post have a green arrow in front of them. Future steps have a square:
Off leash recall away from an empty plate in the house
Reinforcer: a piece of cooked chicken from my hand and “okay” release to check out the distraction.
Extracalifragilisticexpialidocious! Upwards and onwards: distraction #2 – the bag. I didn’t have the paper bag anymore and used a plastic bag that used to have pastries in it instead:
Off leash recall away from empty plastic bag in the house
Chai nailed this distraction as well! Go puppy!
According to my notes, I did not trust that Chai would recall away from kibble off leash. I did not take video, but this is what my notes say:
Long line recall away from kibble in the house
I wanted to go back a step due to my faux pas the other day where I skipped a few steps and she got the kibble. My helper was still working and I don’t have a barrier other than him, so I went back to a long line. And indeed: she hit the end two (or was it three?) times before we could end on a success: recall on a loose long line, chicken from my hand and release to eat the kibble.
So we did end on a success … but not at the off leash (level 3) stage.
July 1, 2023: revisiting the barrier/helper level (level 2)
I had my helper back and revisited the barrier stage with Chai off leash and Zane protecting the most difficult distraction – kibble – in the house. She nailed it on her first attempt! (No video.)
Next, we went up to the roof for an off-leash kibble recall with Zane ready to pick up the kibble plate: by now, I had realized I hadn’t done the barrier level for kibble on the roof the last time.
It took two sessions with a break in between: Zane had to lift the kibble plate in the first rep of the first session. In rep #2, Chai nailed it. We took a recall games break and then had another helper session, getting a single-rep success on the roof (no video).
At this point, future me with his bird eye’s view can proudly show you the following table:
Yay – no more skipped steps! But will I remember that I haven’t yet worked on off-leash kibble in the living room? Stay tuned to find out …