8th and 9th training session Bill

8th training session
Started to add in default. He responded really quickly.

I was quite amazed with how quickly he got it. It is always like that, I find, that if you do the foundation work properly then the rest is really simple and becomes very clear.

Later in the evening I showed Andrew and despite the distraction of him being there Bill still did the behaviour on cue.

9th training session
It was not really a planned training session. Bill came with me shopping. A bunch of children surrounded me, asking all sorts of questions about Bill and dogs in general. Then they asked me if he could sit or something. So I thought to myself, yes, why not, I might as well try it and see if he does it in this environment. No harm done, if he hadn't done it - I would have known that it was stretching it a bit much.

So I tried and I used my release word instead of clicker since I did not have the clicker with me (I had treats in my pockets though :-)). He did the behaviour every time on cue apart from once when he did it without cue. He did the default really well and guess if it was a success amongst the children! I think Bill has done some good advertising for dogs today, which is very well needed.

Conclusion
Continue proofing the behaviour. Add in length to it.

Sixth training session - Bill on back paws using target stick

Plan

• To lessen the target stick and possibly fade it out
• 3X10

Training

• 3X10 + 1X10 later
• Started with a few nose touches when he is still on the floor
• Moved on to raise it again so that he comes up on his back paws
• No problems here at all, he anticipates the movement every time and could start fading the stick
• The last set I did with no stick at all, I pointed with two fingers at him.

Analysing

• Continue doing the two fingers, if hesitation, possible have to go back to stick a few times.

Fifth and sixth training session

Fifth training session

YES! I think we are repairing the biting/chasing now.

Training:

2X10

From clarity to clarity, Bill just got it and went like a little clock - nose touch, click, treat - nose touch, click, treat.

I left it after 2 sets.

Analysing:

Right thing to go back and sort out our little hickups.

Sixth training:

Plan

To higher it so that he has to raise up to touch it.

Training

3X10

First set, got it straight away.

Second set, started to work away the stick which he responded really well to.

Analysing:

Decided to go over hand signal to verbal signal. So next session, lessen the stick and move over to visual cue - two fingers pointing at him.

Fourth training session - 2nd of Dec

Plan

• 3X10
• To try and repair the damage I did by raising the criteria too fast. (Sigh!)
• The way to do it was to go back to having the target stick very close to him every time so I do not accidently trigger chasing/biting. Setting up for success.
  
  

Training

• 3X10
• I'm sitting down in the kitchen.
• Slow down tempo.
• Target still so no biting/chasing occurs.

Analysing

• Some slight biting in the last set as well even though it constantly became better.
• Next training: exactly the same until no biting occurs at all.

> Reason for being so meticulous about the target is that I might want to use it for other things in the future so I want the target work to be as clean as possible.

Second and Third Training Session - Bill - Stand on backpaws on Cue

Second Training Session 29 Nov 09

• 1X10
• Stayed on just nose touching the target stick. The session were more to show off to my husband, Andrew, how clever Bill is so I decided to not raise the criteria :-).

Third training session 30 Nov 09

• 3X10
• On the first set I decided to move around in the kitchen.
• On the second set I decided to raise it a little bit so that he had to stretch upwards in order to reach it. All of this went fantastically well.
• On the third set I decided to slowly moving the target stick in order for him to follow it.
• I added a last set of 1X5.

Analysing

• I raised the criteria far too quickly on the third set. I almost immediately got grabbing it with his mouth and sometimes he did not fully understand what I meant.
• Therefore I added a last set of only 5 repetitions where I had it still on his level in order to try and mend anything that might have gone wrong.
• Results will show in the next training session.

Bill is learning to stand on his back paws on cue

Goal: To do it both on a hand signal and on a verbal cue. Idea is that he should remain there until new cue or finishing cue.


General steps for shaping the behaviour:
1. Capture the behaviour with nose target
2. Work away the target little by little
3. When anticipating clearly add visual cue -hand signal
4. Add in default behaviour (standing in front of me), click and treat for that


Phase 2:
1. Reward for staying up, add time slowly.


Phase 3:

1. Proof in different situations


Phase 4:
1. Add verbal cue where distractions are low
2. Mix with default
3. Mix with default and visual cue
4. Proof the new cue in different situations


29-11-09
First training session- P1
I thought he might do it as a behaviour he would offer naturally. Why I thought that is because he is often doing it in various situations. He has got an amazing balance and is so agile. He is contact seeking, he is alert and he is so keen to learn things. He has got a lovely balanced temperament with a good ability to concentrate in my opinion.


So I thought I would like to develop some of his ability and see what we can do. I was very pleased with the first training session.


Training

• He did not offer the behaviour.
• I instead introduced a nose target to him which he more or less got straight away.
• We did 3 X 10 of the nose target and the last session we started to move it to different places and heights.
• All went very well and he worked really concentrated. Very quickly you could see him deliberately choosing the target rather than sniffing it out of curiosity.

Plan for next training

• To start move it around to teach him to follow it.

Conclusion:
What a lovely dog he is. Of course I already knew this but you know how it is when the feelings just overwhelmes you and you feel like you have the most clever, fantastic dog in the world. I am sure you all know what I am talking about. He is so lovable and we always have so much fun together :-). Looking forward to next training session. Will be my rewards for writing concentrated on my Assignment in Animal Behaviour for a while :-).