Changes Clicker Training Can Bring

This really isn't related to Vivre at all.

I was at the barn today watching a couple of the borders work with their young gelding. A Tennessee Walking Horse, they were working on getting a running walk. He was doing very well, and finely he gave them a great few strides. His reward was to quit. Something that seemed so normal to me before. Now all I can think is how bizarre it seems that they don't want to work with their people and they everyone seems to be okay with that. If Vivre didn't want to work with me I would know there was something wrong. Even when she is heavily distracted she still is ready and willing to work when she focuses on me.

It has been a couple of hours and truthfully it still is just hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that they big reward is quitting.

My old horse is 29 and a retired champion. There isn't much to teach him except for novel behaviors like targeting. He is so arthritic that he really also needs behaviors that don't require too much movement. But even though my horse clicker training experience is limited, I can't help thinking about how much easier it would be if they could have clicked what they wanted. If they had a horse that understood "Yes, this is what I want."

I think what is really getting to me the most is that I know that this used to seem normal to me and now I can't just wrap my mind around it.

Lavender Festival

I took Vivre with me to the Lavender Festival.  There isn't a lot there, but there are a handful of jewelry and craft booths, a farmers market and music.  And of course Lavender Lemonade.  We took my mom's convertible, which was entertaining since Vivre kept trying to bite the wind.  Mom wanted to get over to the farmers market before the bread lady sold out again, she had to leave me and Vivre behind since I can't walk ten feet with out somebody stopping me to tell me how beautiful my dog is and how they have never coloring  like hers.  Except there was actually a number of people who recognized her as a Terv and two who said "Look it's on of those drug sniffing dogs."  Which could be a Mal of could be a Terv since I know their local police department had a Terv.  I'm beginning to think her getting older won't stop people from wanting to pet her.  Her coloring is just too striking for that. 

I did have one lady tell me I needed to put a halti or a choke chain on my puppy to stop her from pulling.  I can only imagine the look on my face.  I have to admit there is a small part of me that cringes because I never take an unruly dog out in public, but Vivre who is still just a wild puppy goes everywhere.  My mother just shakes her head. 

I grabbed some food from a  booth on the way out.  I've discovered that Vivre likes hummus, but it gives her awful puppy gas, so no more hummus for the puppy. 

 



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http://lifewithvivre.blogspot.com/

Another Horse Show

We have hosrse shows on the second Saturday of the month. Vivre did wonderfully. She never once chased after the running children. All though the horses were another story. We started to play tug, but after two yelps I checked her mouth to realize her gums were a little swollen. It seems a little early for her to start teething and her gums are fine now, but I am a little hesitant to tug with her.

It was a much smaller crowd, and there was no whooping with the applause. There was also somebody who actually knew what a terv was. That makes a total of two people. There was also another person who thought it was a wolf pup. All though to be fair she knew me, so she knew it was possible I would be running around with a wolf. There are some new pictures on the flickr. I'll go ahead and post one here anyway.
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Another One!

I have lost another phone charger. I don't know why she likes chargers so much more than everything else. The first time I just didn't think, I let the cord dangle in to Vivre reach. Then I moved the charger to the head of the bed and placed the excess cord behind a trunk. Some how she still managed to get it. But it was still usable. Until the other night when I stretched it out to talk while the phone charged and then forgot it. Thankfully she doesn't seem to like thicker cords. My aunt had her refrigerator cord chewed completely in half. My dad, an electrician, was suprised the dog survived. My laptop power cord also has teeth marks, it was behind the trunk too. I haven't checked it to make sure that it still works, but it isn't bad so I'm not worried.

I bought an adapter so I can plug a car charger in to a wall socket. I think I have three car chargers. Ridiculous since the lighter in my car doesn't work and I can't use them. I hope this will work better since they have shorter cords and they are curly and don't dangle. I really don't want to have to buy another charger.

Not Much Going On

There hasn't been too much going on, though today we went to my Mom's mechanic's house. He was replacing some mount that would only take a minute so Vivre and I went along. I made a discovery and now I feel like an idiot. Vivre does her charge and bark routine at kids. I hadn't noticed because she doesn't do it with children she is familiar with or if she in engaged. The trip to the falls, she started to do that to a group with a kid, but minutes later she bounced passed two girls and then had a boy run right past her face with nothing but a glance. But while we were just walking by the first kid, Vivre was just walking. By the time we came across the two girls she was trying to figure out how to get across the water without getting wet. And we had just finished a training session with the boy so she was more focused on me than him.

It hit me today when she ran and barked at the mechanic's younger son. It was a good trip though since she paid no attention to the noisy equipment and the boys and I played tug with her. The younger son was very good. I only told him once to let me hold the tug while she grabbed it, then I would pass it to him. And from that point on he would hand it back to me to restart the game.

I have also noticed that she doesn't like to be separated from me. Tonight though she was particularly bad. I left her with my dad and ran to take a shower while I was there. My dad kept her for me, she whined the whole time. Then when I went downstairs and he eventually let her go to follow me because she was choking herself so badly. Again if you keep her busy she does okay. Tess took her and played with her at the barn while I was busy. So I need to work on her staying calm as I leave and I need to find more kids.