(Photo taken by Chris)
There is one thing that Milton likes more than food: a good game of fetch.
He and I have three problems we’re overcoming.
1. He doesn’t like to be grabbed, ie: he won’t let me reach out and pet him/take his collar.
2. He doesn’t recall.
3. He has barrier frustration/aggression
Now, what I want is that when the annoying f’ers of yappy dogs living next dog go out and bark for no reason, is to be able to call him in so he’s not out there snapping at my new fence and barking back. I can’t go get him because he won’t let me do that and he doesn’t recall. What does distract him? Fetch.
So today we used fetch to shape two behaviors. It started with one.
First, I throw the ball, he brings it back, I grab it and put it behind my back and wait. At first he simply had to shift toward me, by the end of the day he had to touch my hand with his nose. That earned him a throw or two.
Second, in the middle of this they let their annoying little dogs out. I immediately threw the ball to keep Milton’s attention. Then he brought it back and sat, waiting for the next throw. If he gets bored he’ll go practice his barrier aggression, so I waited. About 10 seconds in he looked at the fence-line and I threw the ball before he had a chance to take a step toward the fence. This variation of “look at that” is hopefully going to help him cope. He was soon looking at the fence so that I’d throw the ball. Never a step toward it.
The neighbors brought their dogs back in and we switched back to touching my hand. Now, it’s kind of confusing to have two behaviors that can get the ball thrown; but he’s a smart dog and I think he can handle this, and proved it a moment later - a look at the fence didn’t get a throw, so he touched my hand and I threw it.
In the mean-time, Elka, Milton, and I are going to work through Really Reliable Recall which I have in DVD format. Milton begins Control Unleashed (CU) training this week (not a class, we’re going it alone at first, as I did successfully with Elka). I just ordered Control Unleashed: Game Demonstration which I am psyched to receive. I think I’ll refresh Elka’s training on CU while Milton and I go through it as well.
Elka has been doing really well on the leash, she still pulls occasionally but I can remind her quite easily so we are able to walk. She had regressed when I got Milton. Milton is an angel on a leash. I just think he doesn’t like pressure on his neck. Walking two dogs can be exciting, yes it can. Especially when a cat shows up! If only my brain was on I would have invoked Look at That (LAT) with Elka rather than letting her nearly dislocate my shoulder. I need more training than she does.
I’m exited to be training Milton and watching him turn into an awesome dog; and Elka’s training has really stuck. My goal is to take Milton through therapy evaluation around a year old, or at least CGC to see if he’s anywhere near close. We’ll see.
And being patient while letting Milton figure out how to make that ball go was a delight. He kept laying down, then sitting up, doing doggy push-ups and offerings all sorts of funny behaviors. But he did finally get it. Now to keep on reinforcing it and raising the criteria. Ultimately my goal is to have Milton basically be right at my legs while he’s waiting for the throw, and accepting petting and collar-grabbing.
Maybe one day I’ll be able to let Milton outside while the neighbors dogs are barking and not worry. Elka totally ignores them and she had started frustrated too as a puppy, hopefully Milton can eventually mimic Elka’s nonchalance.
-Lisa, on June 16, 2010 at 5:34 pm .::. Comments and Reactions
I tweeted about my progress with my barefoot running the other day and was asked, “why barefoot, why not sneakers?”
Well, this is a long-story. Ever since I was a young child I couldn’t walk for long distance or long periods without my feet “hurting”. I’ve been through a lot of different shoes, from sneakers with arch supports to clogs with no flexibility, to birkenstocks to stop my feet rolling inward, etc. I have not seen a podiatrist convinced that custom orthotics wouldn’t help enough to justify the cost.
Taking my shoes off has always been a huge relief that allowed me to walk again, still a bit uncomfortable from the “leftover ache”; but a huge, huge relief.
So why not simply go barefoot?
Well, I have sensitive skin, I can’t really walk on gravel without extreme pain. I didn’t want to step on glass or pebbles outside; plus stores require shoes.
That’s when “barefoot shoes” came up. There are more options than I had guessed for this. But what came up for me was Vibram Five Fingers (VFF). These have toes, they look damn odd, but I can walk in them for much, much longer than I could in any other shoe.
So, inspired by their comfort and inspired by some YouTube videos, I started to run barefoot on the treadmill. Running was always a painful proposition before but now I could run. Focusing on a forefoot strike and running barefoot has changed my entire view on running. It no longer hurts; sure I feel the muscle ache - and that’s welcome! But my feet don’ “hurt”.
Interestingly I have started to feel more parts of my feet, and a gentle aching in the muscles in my feet. Have a look at Podiatry Channel:
The foot and ankle contain:
- 26 bones (One-quarter of the bones in the human body are in the feet.);
- 33 joints;
- more than 100 muscles, tendons (fibrous tissues that connect muscles to bones), and ligaments (fibrous tissues that connect bones to other bones); and
- a network of blood vessels, nerves, skin, and soft tissue.
The foot is an incredible machine - very efficient and custom made for its job. But us humans we have to “improve” everything, so we take this incredible machine and stuff it into a shoe where it can’t actually perform most of its flexing and balancing that makes walking enjoyable. Those muscles (and some in the legs, iirc) start to atrophy. So when you start running barefoot or walking in VFFs, they recommend you take it slowly to adjust and let your muscles wake up and work properly.
This is why I can suddenly walk longer, and this is why I can suddenly find joy in running. I’m letting my feet do their job. In the mean-time the muscles are building and I feel fantastic. I ran .2 ish miles yesterday, 10 minutes at 4mph with a 3 minute warmup and 5 minute cooldown. Normally that would cripple my feet; but yesterday evening I walked the dogs for an hour and I still didn’t hurt. Today I can walk without any foot pain.
This is a miracle for me. I never thought it was possible.
For those interested in this, check out Birthday Shoes for great information, articles, links, and a VFF focused forum.
I also found this on YouTube and really enjoyed watching this lady run, and learned about the proper form: runBAREcompany on YouTube. There are a lot of other videos and information out there.
Personally, this has worked a miracle for me but there are, as always, people that feel passionately for and against barefoot running and VFFs and other ‘minimalist footwear”. For me, I likely will never wear anything other than minimalist footwear again, with a strong preference for VFFs or true barefoot wherever possible. Being able to walk and run is well worth it for me.
Edit to Add: Brandon sent this Barefoot Running article to me and I highly recommend it before you get started.
-Lisa, on June 14, 2010 at 10:14 am .::. Comments and Reactions
