Working with Articles
Work has been taking up a lot of time. 10-12 hour shifts this past week. So, we have not gotten out tracking like I'd like to. I was hoping to keep our momentum going. We have been practicing with articles in the house every day. I am trying the "loopy" training as Judi and MaryAnn suggested. Small room with short quick training sessions. The working for dinner did not work. He stopped taking kibble. So I resulted to higher reward food. No idea if I am doing this right. I am giving him no verbal queues nor pointing at the article.
I do have some questions.
Should I only be using 1 article during these trainings?
He is now consistently nudging the items. Sometimes he does pick it up. Should we move forward to him picking the item up everytime?
Excellent questions! No worries about work vs life balances, it happens. I love love love that you are playing article games in the house. My observations are 1. you need to raise your criteria for payment to 'pounce & pickup' and you are playing the game too long (too many repetitions), 2. you are paying/rewarding for too many behaviors, 3. you are dropping it while he sees it (live vs dead), 4. one article per session.
ReplyDeleteSo #1 - I know you are working the loop trying to build to pounce & pickup. The boy knows that pounce & pickup is what you want, so let's only pay for pounce & pickup. And you are doing a good job not telling him to pick it up (at least inside the house you are doing a good job). With any dog, but especially a sight hound, 2 or 3 perfect pounce & pickups will mean THE END OF THE GAME. Much laughter, much whispering that he did so well and you have other cookies and he is going to have to wait to play again later that night, etc. I would rather you play four short sessions (2 or 3 perfect indications) throughout the day than one where he halfway gives you something for ten times. We all do this. Look at my blog for Jack (alumni section of journals, black cocker) Yesterday I ran a track in the snow, we both missed the second article, I finished the track, unclipped him and did an impromptu "OOOOPS" game with that missing second article. AND, I played the game too long - and I say that on the video. Watch and see my wild, willing, reliable dog go "oh for goodness sakes, how many times do you want me to down on this freaking plastic box &^%)) ?" So for your #1, hold him to pounce & pickup, three awesome times. If you hold him to pounce & pickup, my #2 comment goes away. No more touch/push and reward, no more down and touch and reward, no no no. Only pounce & pickup. Will he get frustrated, you bet. You just keep your mood light and focused. If you think he is really frustrated and he gives you one pounce & pickup, PAY HIM and be done. You can get 2 great indications the next time. And your treats better make him drool girl!
#3 quit waiting to drop the article for him to see it. That is a live article, just like throwing it makes it live. It will never be live on a track. It will be dead, like 40 minutes dead in a test. So OOOPS should be you dropping it when he is NOT looking. And if you walk in a room and he is laying around like the King of the palace, get his butt up! Put a cookie on his nose and lure him up saying "you wanna play a game?" and keep the cookie - he knows you have it and he will be willing to down when he sees the article and he says "oops how did THAT get on the floor??" let me pound & pickup and maybe she will give me the cookie for doing something, not just laying around like I am the King of the palace. " Your dog should absolutely come alive if you whisper "wanna play a game?"
#4 use the glove for the first session, use a sock for the second, use a bandana for the third, hell use a toy if that will get him understanding the game, etc. Remember you want 2 or 3 AWESOME pounce & pickups so you can pay big for it. I don't care if you say YES and throw the treats in the air when he picks it up. I don't care if you say YES and step backward to feed him off your hip when he picks it up, just mark the pickup part with YES and let food come quickly.
You are soooo close to him reliably picking up that article. He does not need you to tell him to pick it up, it is his responsibility. He knows what to do. Empower him to do it. Keep the videos going!! It is so much easier to help you make progress when I can see you!! Now go watch Jack's videos from 1/6. The second one is the OOOPS game that I play waaaay too long. You will see it and say "Mary Ann you nut, you played that waaaay too many times!! What were you thinking??" LOL. We all do it girl!