OTR: L4 Working L2 behaviors for another person

Here the children re-teach 30 second Open Hand Zen to Rooster.

Below Rooster responds to Colin's cues and does a lovely Lazy Leash right beside him on the right side.  All of the dogs responded to the position of the leash to determine which side they would walk beside the children.  Hooray!  The leash was the cue - just the way it's supposed to be.

In the Game vs Distracted

Initially, Nadador found the many distractions too overwhelming and just couldn't get In the Game.  It was a very busy day at MAH with a lot of traffic coming through our training room.  It was interesting to watch Nad's reaction to it all.  He eventually just said, "I don't want to play right now" and returned to his tent.

On the other hand, at the very same time and with the very same distractions, Rooster was able to easily get In the Game and quickly completed the shaped behavior.  That's just how life works.  Later in the morning, Jan and Nad returned and had a successful shaping session.

It was amazing to me the number of distractions the dogs were working with yesterday.  It is too bad we didn't get a shot out the window to the day care area to show the huge number of dogs constantly running back and forth in front of the windows.  It shows how far all the dogs have come that they could ignore what was happening around them and concentrate of where they were.  The fact that Nad could determine he had had enough and make the appropriate choice of deciding not to play is also something I believes shows a thinking dog.   I can't imagine Web being so calm in the face of the distractions a few months ago when Karen had to sit next to his crate, covered with a sheet, and toss treats to him to stay quiet.  Yesterd ay he remained on a Down quietly with no crate while the action continued around him.  And then there is DL,  Drooling Lily, who calmly  accepted lying on a table head down in front of the windows and either she was terribly dehydrated or she has noticeably stopped drooling so much.  Lily also was a major player in our "games" yesterday  and , sorry Lynn, seemed to be happy to work with anyone. ....  but of course we all know Lynn is always first....  but she has shown she can work with kids or other adults and not splatter walls and floors.  What a lady!   And of course there is the Roo, who's behavior allowed me to get a good nights sleep and not stay awake beating myself with a newspaper.  

~Cathy

More L4 OTR

Waiting politely at the door.  On leash this time.

DISTANCE: Go Around

Clockwise

Counter-clockwise

Changing the circumstances: same object in the same location in the same room.....but we have changed our position and it becomes a whole new behavior.  SO........we "bungee" back to the beginning and quickly re-teach.

BMO: DISTANCE: L3 (re-teaching for added distance)

Re-teaching, with the goal of learning different ways of adding distance.  After initially luring the behavior, Karen dropped all cues - no body language, no hand direction - just let Webster offer it on his own.  Each time they would reach a plateau (distance) Karen would immediately return to her beginning position just in front of the sawhorse and re-teach from the beginning.  She would "bungee" back.  All the work is being done by Webster.

Introducing Rooster to children

Bethany and Colin trained with us again today.  We took advantage of having them with us to have them work with Rooster, who is a little uneasy with children.

Shaping HANDLING: Level 3 (new book)

Step 1:  Dog downs and relaxes on table for 30 seconds

Step 2:  Dog allows stranger to touch her on table

Step 3:  Dog allows stranger to touch her on table while relaxed

Step 4:  Dog allows stranger to touch her head, tail, foot on table while relaed

Step 5:  Dog allows vet or vet tech to examine her on table while relaxed.

Step 1

Getting Lily to relax on her side for 30 seconds

Now she's over on one hip

Relaxed on her side

(Jan and Karen are standing there to help give Lily confidence that there is support on the far side of the table)

Step 2

Use massage to help the dog relax

SAFETY TIP: Because both the floor and the table top were slick, we did not have Lily jump up on the table, but had a chair at either end of the table to assist and non-slip mats on the table to give her confidence.

More shaping

THE EASY BUTTON

Another Paw Touching shaping exercise.  This is another salient behavior - when the dog successfully presses the button, he hears the message.

Nad was distracted by the dogs in the waiting room.  When the distractions became too much for him, he returned himself to his tent.  Jan gave him plenty of time-outs and several short sessions.

More Shaping

LILY'S EMERGENCY CALL BOX

GOAL:  Paw touch AND sound (to make this a salient behavior)

The point of this shaping exercise was to shape the dog from a minimum distance of 5'.