Friday, December 20, 2013

21 Months: Training - December 16th - 20th, 2013

Hello, my name is Jack and I have a 3 pencil a week habit.
Monday - Friday

This is a slower week for Jack.  We've worked on Retrieve again (to the decimation of yet another pencil) and confidence building.  I have had a week of more pain and less energy and Jack is the dog this week that got less training than the others.  It's a compromise, but Ronda understands and can see how tired I am nightly when she picks the big boy up.

We worked on Monday with retrieve and tug.  He did fine with the pencil for a long time and was getting a softer mouth and more control on his hold and more patient with it when we got up to 3 seconds and started for 4 seconds with him holding the pencil solo.  We even did some moving holds where I handed him the pencil and asked him to bring it to me for a foot or two.  Once we started that he tended to get flashy and try to flip it in his molars again.

When we played that game I would have him hold and carry and then Max hold and carry and Malcolm take it in his mouth.  We took turns between the three dogs and Jack actually loved playing that game and became more control with his carry after seeing Max's carry and hold.  Modeling, I just love it.

It was in displaying his hold to Ronda that Jack broke yet another pencil.  Sigh.

As I stated in my previous blogs for Emma and Malcolm, Wednesday was a wash for all of the dogs this week.  I had an appointment and then worked on getting health insurance, which took half a day and a load of frustration, and simply just took care of the dogs and ensured they didn't feel like I was going to eat them for dinner.

Handsome and sleepy after a major pencil killing spree.
Jack is very excitable when training.  He tends to loose his brain and gets too focused on the treats and too goofy in what he's doing to be under control.  I need to talk with someone and have them watch him and show me a better way of refocusing him.  I will contact a local clicker trainer for some advise and help with him to get him back under control and in the same game as me.

We did work on learning to flip the dishwasher door up for Ronda.  Max knows this skill and it took one lesson to teach him; I have to remember Max is not a typical dog when training a new skill.  Jack and I have worked for 5 lessons off and on and he's still not sure what I want.  I am shaping him to lifting the door up with his nose, but he's not getting his nose under the door.

I finally got his head near the edge of the door and then used a bit of targeting to get his nose under the door.  Once under the door I had him target my hand and he started the upward thrust I have been working toward.  I left the lesson there and will let him work A to Z out for a bit and then revisit the lesson.

Poodles are a strange breed of dog to train.  They like to read the end of a novel and then the beginning and fill in the middle themselves.  When training Jack I tend to show him the final result and then the beginning and then let him work the problem out and show me what he discovered.  When I do this he seems to solve the problem and return with the whole behavior in place.  It's odd, after working a German Shepherd who wants each step clearly defined to figure out the problem.

Jack is learning tug and retrieve to help his handler.
Friday was a slow day for Jack.  I decided to take Emma out for another public access run, which meant my energy levels would be drained until late afternoon after my return.  I was already drained after quickly going out and picking up poop from the yard when I saw the snow fall and putting de-icer and sand on my ramp to prevent a fall (Thanks Mom for the de-icer and sand!).  I spent almost an hour after that quick run recovering before I could take Emma out and had to take a hydro so I had my pain levels under control.

It wasn't until late afternoon I went to work on both retrieve and tug with Jack.  He was holding the pencil well enough, but he's so flighty about his hold that I am getting frustrated.  I decided I would need some advise from a friend and plan on seeing her this weekend and getting suggestions on toning down Jack's over excitement when training.

He is improving with his hold and as we worked I listened for the sound of wood crunching and wouldn't reward those holds.  He was softening his mouth  nicely and though we got a few teeth marks in the pencil, it wasn't broken.

I then went to tug and worked on teaching him the cue Pull to start applying his newly acquired tug skills to any door with a tug.  He got the idea to pull hard on the tug in my hand and was happy to play the game.  We moved to the fridge and he got the idea to pick up the tug and pull, but not hard enough to open the fridge again.  He got it the once, but hasn't since.

I moved him to the tug on the cabinet door under the sink and he easily opened that door each time.  So, we have some of the idea, but not enough force.  I need to build up persistence in his tugging and really get him thinking he can pull a semi if we ask.

I then took him to a new type of tug on the door to the front bathroom.  He pulled it and even opened the door twice, but after a bit went into stupid, can't think, just feed me the treats mode.  Sigh.  Time to fix this problem so we don't get stuck each time we increase difficulty.

Jack just before a grooming....still handsome.
When Ronda arrived we talked about what we are working on and I showed her what I wanted.  He was amped up and excited and promptly snapped the pencil.  I had Ronda feel how it should be with Jack gripping the pencil and just feeling his teeth connect and rewarding him for that.  I then said, as he got consistent on that and keeping the pencil behind his canines, to add duration between the grip and saying yes.  She misunderstood me (I phrased it funny) and she delayed the yes up to 2 seconds after he had let go of the pencil.  I apologized and asked Max to demo what I was asking her to do.

I had Max take the pencil and together we held it for 2 seconds and then I said yes and sent him to Ronda for a treat.  He was pretty pleased with himself.  She understood then and we had her practice with Max, who got silly and played tug with the pencil instead of just sharing the hold, but Ronda had an idea of what I wanted.

I also asked her to teach Jack how to play tug.  I want a good solid, I am not giving this back to you, this tug is mine, game of tug from this soft boy.  I want him to think tug is a fantastic game to play when invited.  I want him to have persistence and if she plays tug with him and really gets him thinking tug is a fantastic game maybe I can get his tug tasks progressing.

Let's see how far Jack is on tug as a game and tug as a task next week.  He has been given something to mull over for the weekend and I suspect he'll come back with A and Z connected or pretty close to being connected.

Level 1
Zen Target Come Sit Down
Step Completed Completed 2 Completed Completed

Level 2
Zen Come Sit Down Target
Step 3 4 2 1 Completed
Focus Lazy Leash Go To Mat Crate Distance
Step 1 Completed 2 5 1
Jump Relax Handling Tricks Communication
Step 1 4 Completed 1 4

Level 3
Zen Come Sit Down Target
Step 0 2 2 1 0
Focus Lazy Leash Go To Mat Crate Distance
Step 0 Completed 1 0 0
Jump Relax Handling Retrieve Communication
Step 0 0 Completed 2 0

Level 4
Zen Come Retrieve Target Relax
Step 0 0 5 0 0
Focus Lazy Leash Go To Mat Crate Distance
Step 0 Completed 0 0 0
Handling Communication


Step Completed 0


No comments:

Post a Comment