Day 2

Day 2 is done!  Man, it's going to be a long summer.

First, some comments that I got from a friend whose dogs have great contacts.  She actually recommended the Trkman method to me.
1--Make sure to click when Bentley hits the yellow.  We had previously been clicking as he strides off the board--oops!
2--Make sure he is driving towards something and not looking at us for the treat.  We do have a bowl outside of the view of the camera, which is where the chicken is.  However, Bentley is so handler focused that he would rather watch us to make sure we're not doing something different that he doesn't look ahead.

Video


Stats:
Reps:  43
% Success:  81%

Thoughts:
1. Success.  The good thing is that his success rate increased drastically!  I'm not sure if he's getting it, or we're making it too easy, or if it was luck, but I'm happy about that.  Our goal is 85% success before moving the board.  If it gets significantly worse, then we move it back to flat.

2.  Traction.  The board is really slippery.  I'm not sure if there is a textured paint or some sort of paper we could glue to it.  It's no big deal now, but once we add angles it's going to be hard for Bentley to stride without sliding.

3. Speed.  He did seem a bit faster today.  "Bit" being the key word, but I'll take it.  I imagine days upon days of this should really build his confidence if nothing else.  We did start sending him into a tunnel (can't see it in the video) and that seemed to help a little.  I also think it helped him think about it.

4.  Improvement.  He also improved as the session went on.  He missed 6 in the first 15 reps, and only 2 after that.

5.  Analysis.  Today seemed even harder to tell if he was jumping or striding.  Sometimes he does what i call a "bounce" and I don't know whether or not to reward it...you can probably hear my late clicking as I debate (not good).  I'm working on this.