Reflecting on last Thursday's session

2/18/2010

Although we only captured a tiny bit of our session on Flip this week, we left with:

Lots to think about

Lots to work on

(Level 2: Leash: Steps 1,2,3, building duration, Go to Mat,

Chutes and Ladders)

Lots of ways to incorporate Level 1 behaviors into our lives

(Turning Sit into a default behavior, using Zen: food bowl, exiting the car, at the pool, at the doorway, in the rain, etc)

As you finish each behavior in every Level, take a few minutes to consider:

HOW you can use it

WHERE you can use it

WHO can get the behavior from your dog

WHAT you can change about it to make it more useful to you

ZEN: Level 1, 2

Building ZEN duration to 10 seconds in the hand, in the food dish and on the floor. Then Molly did the same behaviors and the same duration for a stranger. She has a strong understanding of ZEN.

Help your dog understand Zen not as a behaviour but as a way of life.

Zen is about you drawing lines - setting limits for your dog to understand.

GO TO MAT: Level 2

Explaining GO TO your mat and BE ON your mat. Then adding inches of distance at a time. Molly "loses" the mat at about 1' so Sharon brings it all the way back to the beginning position and re-teaches the behavior.

Rooster gets distracted by smells in the grass so Cathy moves her chair and Rooster's mat away from the distraction and starts back at the beginning.

10 on/1 off

then

5 on/ 1 off

then

1 on/ 1 off

Take the time now to make a solid investment in this behavior!

SIT: Level 1: Developing a Default "Car" Sit

Using SIT: Level 1 as a default behavior. Here we begin developing a default SIT upon exiting the car. We use SIT: Level 1 as a default behavior on recall. We will begin developing a default SIT before exiting (and entering) the exterior door at home.

Sharon and Molly ... Cathy and Rooster

Sue writes:

When can you use Sit? How can you start appying it to making your own life easier?

You now have a major tool for teaching the dog to control herself. Think about self-control in ALL your interactions with her. She wants her supper, she can Sit while you put the dish down. She wants you to open the door, she can Sit. She wants you to toss a toy for her? She can Sit. She wants to be petted? She can Sit.

"Wow, Binkie! You have to see this! I can get anything I want! Watch! I go to the door and Sit....and Shazam....they open it!"

Where can she Sit? Can she Sit on the floor? On grass? On carpet? On a chair? On a grooming table? On the floor of your car? On top of her crate? Under a table? Halfway up the stairs?

Can she Sit for other members of your family? For strangers? Kids? Men with beards? Guys with police hats?

Can she Sit during TV commercials? When you open the oven door? When the doorbell rings? When you're on the phone? When you're putting on your coat? When you're brushing your teeth? While you're peeling carrots? While you're putting on her leash and collar?

Yes, we're STILL talking about Level One: SIT

Work where your dog is

Sharon and Jody are leaving this week for a ski trip to Montana with their 4 year old granddaughter, Delaney Grace.

When they get there, they won't take Delaney on a Black Slope.
Instead, someone (probably Sharon) will say to the others,
"You go ahead on the lift and ski the Blacks.
Bean and I will stay down here on the Bunny Slope for a while,
make some snow angels and we'll meet you for lunch."

That's the same thing you do with your dog in a class
where the class is doing behaviors that your dog hasn't learned yet.
"You go ahead and ski the Blacks.
Rooster/Molly/Webster and I will stay on the Bunny Slope for awhile
and practice some Level 1 behaviors. We'll meet you when you're back
on a level R/M/W understands."

Levels training is a progression.

It's that simple.
It's that easy.

Work where the animal is, not where you expect her to be or where she "should" be.

Sue Eh's Rules of Training

DOWN: Level 1 Another way to "explain"

The more ways we can "explain" a behavior to our dog, the better she will understand.

Dale demonstrates another way to lure the Down

REVIEW:

Steps: Introduction: Cues

When you find yourself repeating a cue,

or you cue a behavior and get something else

or even something even slightly not-right,

STOP USING THE CUE!

Go back,

retrain the behavior,

reattach the cue

and go on from there.

DOWNSTAY: Level 2 (Chutes & Ladders)

DOWNSTAY: Level Two: Discussion

Lots of new concepts in Level Two!

The DownStay is the first (and easiest) of the duration behaviors.

***

Using Chutes and Ladders to introduce Duration to the Down, 5 seconds.

Controlling the environment by teaching this IN THE CAR.

Eye contact was a bonus!

Sharon and Molly

Karen and Webster

Cathy and Rooster

from Steps:

STAY Criteria

DownStay: Level Two

In the early Levels, your STAY cue means freeze, but later it'll become more relaxed and will come to refer to holding place only – when the dog is doing a 2-hour Go To Mat, we don't really care if she sits up or circles now and then.

SitStay: Level Two

Your criteria are important here. Under no circumstances do you want to tell a dog that she can move ANYTHING but her head or tail during a Stay, so if she moves ONE paw, or shifts her bum, she's broken the position.

(....or whines....or barks...)

GO TO MAT: Level 2 (using Rapid Fire Reinforcement)

First Sharon gets Molly's attention by rapid firing treats when Molly is on the mat. Then Sharon explains to Molly that BEING ON the mat is a good place to be. (5 on, 1 off: C/T, C/T, C/T, C/T, C/T ... C/toss treat off). Sharon tosses a treat OFF the mat to reposition Molly to be able to return TO the mat.

Molly has an "Aha!" moment

GO TO MAT: Level Two: Easy Beginnings

Step 1. Get your treats, clicker, and mat.

Step 2. Sit down and put your mat on the floor close to you where you think the dog will naturally be when she realizes you have food – probably right in front of you.

Step 3. The dog comes over, stands on the mat, you click (boy, training dogs is hard work). That's setting yourself up for success, then waiting for the behavior to happen so you can catch it.

Step 4. Click and toss the treat on the mat X10, then toss the next treat off the mat.

Step 5. Click when the dog returns to the mat and toss the next ten treats on the mat, then another one off the mat.

LEASH: Level 2: Steps 2,3

DOODLING:

If you go to Leash: Level Two: Easy Beginnings (page 70) you will find the next two steps:

(Step 2)

Click X 50 for the dog being near you (if these stages take several days, that's fine). If the dog is near you, if the leash is 6' long, and if you're only holding one hand-wrap of it, the leash is loose. Right? Right.

(Step 3)

Then start walking slowly around the room. Click A LOT for the dog being near you. Not for looking at you, not for sitting when you stop, not for being on your left side, just for being near you. And if she's near you, the leash is loose. Right? Right. Click X 50 for walking near you with a loose leash.


What is demonstrated in the video is the behavior as described in Steps (above) but broken down into even smaller criteria. (NOTE: I have Lily on my right side instead of on the left as written above)

First do Step 2 off-leash, clicking the dog for being near you,

then for being near you anywhere on the left of your body.

Then.........repeat with the leash on

SO

We have Step 1: Explaining to the dog to give in to the collar pressure

and now we have Steps 2 and 3: as stated above and as demonstrated in the video.

In the video, we add C & L (laddering the steps taken) and turns.

All of these steps are part of the explanation of "leash on/ leash loose" BEFORE the single focal point part and BEFORE the backing up part!!!! And waaaaaaay before the passing other dogs part!

Certainly worth your time to go back to the beginning and give your dog the benefit of these early explanations!

LEASH: Level 2: Step 1

LEASH: Level Two

1. Trainer stands in one spot with the dog on a loose leash.

2. The dog keeps the lead loose for 60 seconds with one distraction.

3. Trainer may NOT talk to the dog.

* This Level is about testing Loose Leash as a default behavior. *

* * *

This is what we discovered on Thursday when we read in Steps! This is where we are headed as we introduce Leash to our dogs. THE BEHAVIOR BEGINS WITH COLLAR PRESSURE WORK. Whoa! How did we miss that?

NOTE: The explanation is clearer if you hold the clasp instead of the leash. (See Dale's video below)

LEASH: Level Two: Easy Beginnings

Step 1.

Step 1a. Put the collar on, click for not fussing with it. Play a game with the puppy to take her mind off the collar.

Step 1b. When she's comfortable, add a short leash and let her drag it around. Again, click for not fussing and do something to help her forget she's dragging a snake around from her neck (oh, let me think… how about FEEDING her?).

Step 1c. When she's used to it, sit down and put a TINY bit of pressure on the leash. Not enough to scare her or kick in her freedom reflex, just enough so she knows it's there.

Step 1d. Then call her, make interesting noises, show her a toy, whatever you have to do to show her that she can release the pressure by moving WITH it (towards you).

While you're working on this, remember that this is a counterintuitive response for any mammal – her body KNOWS the way to get away from pressure is to push INTO the pressure, so when the leash tightens, her instinctive reaction is to tighten it more.

* You have to show her that her body isn't telling her the truth about leashes. *

Dale explains to Lily

Dale demonstrates an easy position in which to "explain" giving in to leash pressure. Coordinating the clicker and the treats while applying light pressure isn't easy!

Apply pressure to one SIDE only until the dog understands. Then re-teach the entire lesson on the OTHER side. Do this behavior seated with your arm resting on your leg. This is very light pressure, but steady.

THE COME GAME

Sharon and Molly

Karen and Webster

Cathy and Rooster