Move forward to touch a stranger's hand (silently)
Return to Tuck position at Jan's side
Nadador often "woofs" when touching Lynn's hand. No click for the noisy Touch.
Clarifying the criteria: Jan is luring Nad into Heel position by having him follow her finger and circle into position.
Breaking the training down to a single criteria: quietly touching the strangers hand is all we are working on.
Second single criteria: Tuck (Swing Finish) into heel position at Jan's side. If the behavior is to be back chained, then this is the first behavior of the back chain.
Putting the chain together.
Lynn is teaching Lily an opposite greeting behavior. She has taught Lily to remain stationary and to target the palm of an extended hand with the top of her hand. The cue is: "Pet". She has a little duration, too, but has never done the behavior with another person approaching and "petting".
Nad and Jan demonstrate the BOSU.
Jan explains the BOSU to Lily
Reviewed and discussed: (not filmed)
Level 3 Communication Step 4 (Nad)
Level 4 Focus Step 1 Comeafter (Lily)
Level 2 Jump Steps 1 - 4; Level 3 Jump
Activating disabled door button at library
Nad: Paws Up and Paw Touch
Lily: Nose Touch
Level 4 Go to Mat Step 5
GTM on a mat
under the table at a sidewalk cafe on Orange Ave while Lynn and Jan have a leisurely lunch
Jan and I had a successful Skyping session working on our L3 Foundation behaviors. The majority of these videos show only one half of the action. The other half consists of conversation and coaching. Many of the flips are over 5 minutes, which, to most viewers will be meaningless and dull. But Jan and I know exactly the references being made.
There are many plusses to Skyping training sessions. One big one is that the dogs are working in their own home environment. No "But she does it at home!" excuses here. And we experienced a major "Duh" moment.
Prior to introducing L3 Jump, we began today's session by reviewing the Comebefores, L2 Distance and Jump.
Lily began with L2 Distance. Lily has been taught both the clockwise (Go By) and the counter clockwise (Away). So that's one element, but it doesn't affect the foundation necessary for advancing the Jump behavior. However, at L2 Distance and Jump are both different AND similar. What they teach the dog is that she can go out and work at a distance from the trainer. Distance is an important factor here.
Then it was Jan and Nad's turn. While Lily relaxes, Lynn coaches Jan and Nad. This just worked out really well. Listening to our conversation, Jan and I can each relive the part of Nad's Step 1 Distance review.
L2: Distance and Jump (review)
"What you click is what you get" is our friend here. In Distance, we click as the dog passes the cone to tell her that going around the object is the criteria. In Jump, we click a the dog passes over the pole, to tell her that going over the object is the criteria. Eventually we will enclose the pole (the jump) between two posts and the dog will learn a third lesson - to go between the posts. Sue says that the height at which the pole is placed is not the important lesson in Jump L3. Being able to be sent out a distance to go through the posts and over the jump involves many lessons. In L2 we are building foundations for all of them.
L2 Distance and Jump. We click for one thing when the dog is going around and another when she is going over. We talked about arcs and rhythm of the behavior. And we were aware of the placement of the delivery of the treat and how that enhances the learning, too.
L2 Distance and Jump as foundational Comebefores to L3. By reading ahead it helps to see the larger picture and the importance of the initial skills. Boy, is this the case w/L2 Distance and Jump. They are teaching important concepts to the dogs for future skill building.
Here is a clip of Dale teaching L2 Distance to Lily. Or is Lily teaching L2 Distance to Dale? Either way, they are both doing a good job!
L2 Relax (discussion)
Back to the beginning for Lily and Nad
It's all about criteria. We are both comfortable returning back to Step 1 Level 2. This is a true default behavior that we are after. What are the indicators of our two dogs of a relaxed state? The second time around both Jan and I have a more clearly defined criteria than when we each taught it the first time.
Throughout the session yesterday, while Jan and I were sitting and talking, both Nad and Lily assumed the relaxed state that we are ultimately after and we rewarded them for it. As we theorize about this behavior more, we need to keep in mind this question: Are we after a position? Or are we after a state of mind? Or both? Hmmmmm.
Sue is writing about teaching Relax to Syn in her blog just this week. This is very helpful, both in her description of Syn's journey and in the pictures that Sue has uploaded there. 9 Months 27 Days.
We talked about using the Relax position to obtain the KORP state of mind. KORP is a wonderful tool in the learning process.
L3 Focus
I think this was a surprise to both of us. Both dogs have tested cold all of the Steps through 3. Lily has completed all 5 Steps. But today was a great example of the importance to continue to formally Review, Remind and Reteach the important behavior.
Neither Lily nor Nad was able to successfully pass Step 1. They each passed Step 2 with the Comeafter. The vertical 2' distance was fun and the eye LOCK was solid from both of the dogs. We used Chutes and Ladders building both Distance and then Duration. But not at the same time. In this session, we did Distance first. Then Duration. So the steps may be passed, but it was a good reminder to continue to RETEACH them to get the Eye LOCK rock solid. That passing cold isn't the end of learning and that just like the time we spent making the Level 1 behaviors "default go-to" behaviors, now we need to continue that same dedication to explaining the L2 behaviors the same way.
This lead us to reflect on the last time we worked in Cathy's tennis court on L3 Focus Step 3 Comeafters. We exchanged dogs and were working on Focus duration with another person.....which is one huge advantage of training together. But outdoors, more than 2 dogs, distractions galore.
Good reminders!
Jan's Session Notes
L2 Distance:
-Around pole
GO BY (clockwise) – 1 day
AWAY (counter clockwise) – other day
-Move around ‘clock’ and bungie
Work both – distance 5 minutes, jump pole and change where click (over pole as opposed to as crossing back of cone
-work on Nose-Level Zen (from list where SD has sniffing issues)
-L4 Zen in Steps using human smells – do from very beginning
–Urine pads
–Cough medicine on guaze
–Diapers
–Etc.
W We drew parallels between NL Zen and Steps Zen and real life. I have been teaching Zen L1, 2 and 3 at nose height instead of hand and floor using treats (as written) and from hand, on floor and a nose height using things more normally experienced in public (packaged food smells, people and their smells, real, readily accessible and available food - personal "squirrels). Reteaching those variables from L1.
Stop/Drop on Recall
- Sit/Down while moving
Lily has a solid Come so I am using L3 Come to incorporate Drop on Recall in the same L3 parameters. Cathy and Jan are working on Stop in class on Thursdays but, so far, not as a Come behavior. We forgot to discuss where Nad is in L3 Come OR to review L2 Come. Next time.
** KOP
-on side with head down
Sit Station – sit with back feet moving to front feet
-sit with paws on book to bring back legs to front
-can back into wall/couch
As we reviewed L3 Sit, I mentioned that I am utilizing this L3 behavior to change Lily's Sit. Lily has a roll back sit. This means that sit is controlled by where her rear legs are and she drops into her sit into her rear legs, then moving her front paws back once in the sit position. I have been using the principle of Perch Training or Station to reverse this process (causing her to use her front legs as the stationary component and adjusting her rear drop to the front. Both Marge and Sheila utilize this technique and I have videos of them both in Lily's Blog. In watching Nad sit, Jan discovered that he, too, has a roll back sit so we experimented with Perch Training.
L3 Loose Leash – by book
-SDW w/vest
-LL w/o vest
-train both ways from book
I am using Level 2 LL as a vehicle to review Lily's understanding of what a Lazy leash is, a SDW is, and how the length of the leash gives me a tool to change her position in relation to me while she does her job of keeping the leash loose.
Again, it's a matter of understanding what we want and definingourcriteria.
Working on Level 3, beginning with Zen, Focus, Come and Lazy Leash. On and off leash in a safe location - Rooster's tennis courts.
Fun warmup with the 20' ladder. Nadador and Rooster have done this before. It is Lily's first time.
Off camera Lynn works with Lily on Relax while other dogs are active in the vicinity. (NOTE: repeated cues initially) Rooster and Nad get interrupted by passing dogs. What begins as a coordination exercise turns into a focus and attention exercise. Each trainer will get some good coaching by this video.
Again using the ladder, we turn it into a Jump exercise. Review the L2 Jump Steps. Jump is TAUGHT as a distance behavior where the dog leaves the trainer. Review, remind, reteach. No matter what we call this behavior, let's go back and reteach L2.
Using the three positional behaviors, Sit/Down/Stand, we work on the dogs ability to focus as we cue differently but simultaneously. We initial began separated the entire width of the tennis court and gradually worked closer and closer. When Rooster unexpectedly become distracted, Cathy wisely moved him to his comfort threshold away from the group. (NOTE: the click ends the behavior) A discussion followed about positional behaviors and criteria.
Nadador has completed L3 Zen at home and at other doorways in other places, but this is the first time here on Rooster's tennis court. Jan feels confident in Nad's Zen and in his Come, so she removed his leash as she goes through the Steps and the Splits. We all acknowledged the need to review the Duration acquired in Level 2 behaviors and to build a solid one minute Duration as we continue working in Level 3. Level 3 Sit and Down add Distance and OOS to the dogs self control so the Duration needs to be reliable.
Step 1
Step 2
Comeafter
(Steps 1 and 2)
Step 3
Cathy mentioned that she is going to return to the KOP in Rooster's training. I'm thinking perhaps we should add Distance to the KOP. And/or using our iPods and earphones, we could also use KOP as a focus exercise when training together, each trainer doing a different "Day". Also, we could keep a record of how far we have advanced through the KOP. Has anyone gone through all 20 days?
Cathy, Jan and I are working our way through the new books. Jan and Nad came over this morning to work on Level 3 Zen and Focus. When Sue was here recently, we spent a day with her talking about incorporating Zen and Focus into the dog's lives. So today we wanted to utilize the behaviors that we had trained in real life situations. There were plenty of opportunities just at my house.
Patrick the cat was waiting to welcome Nad, so Nad had the opportunity to display his Zen and Focus talents with real life Cat Zen. Lily and Shayla were excited to see Nad, so they had chances to exhibit Door/Gate Zen and trying to control their enthusiasm. Jan and I wanted to reteach/review/remind Lily and Nad L3 Zen Step 4 using each others dogs and found that even in separate rooms and different ends of the house, neither dog was able to Focus well enough to give any Duration. Many lessons learned. Many holes discovered.
New circumstances. New distractions.
Jan and Nad are arriving. Lily and Shayla are confined on the patio.
Re-teaching Lily and Shayla to respect the open gate, even though Nad is loose outside.
Re-teaching Nad to respect the open gate from the other side. They have not greeted each other yet.
Triple Zen.
Jan and Nad successfully complete Step 3.
Nad and Lily learn Patio Door Zen, too.
Next time we will once again work on Focus with each other's dogs.
Next time we will release by name, one at a time.
In the meantime, lots of TEACHING Focus (Watch) in more stimulating environments.
When discussing the Follow with Robin Walters this morning, I found it interesting that her Follow cue instructs her Guide dog, Jonathan, to follow the person leading the Robin/Jonathan team.
For my use, I want Follow to tell Lily to "drop back behind and follow me".
Using Change once again (or L1 Target) I first position Lily behind me using both my left and right hands as targets and then begin adding movement.
Video Transcription: Training a Psychiatric Service Dog Skill: Soothing Agitation
Title (white text on black): Sharon & Barnum Train a Psychiatric Service Skill
Next screen: Shaping Head Press into Thigh to Dissipate Handler Agitation
Cut to image of Barnum and Sharon on bed. Sharon is mostly under the covers and wears a wool hat. Barnum is a black bouvier, extremely fluffy. He presses his chin into Sharon’s hand while Sharon rummages for treats in a plastic bag with the other hand.
Next screen: I start with Barnum chin-targeting my hand.
Next screen: Once he’s offering chin-on-thigh, I keep up my rate of reinforcement.
Cut to video. Sharon holds out her hand, and Barnum, who is lying down next to her on the bed, puts his chin in her hand. Click/treat.
Sharon waits to see what Barnum will do next. A pause. When he doesn’t offer a behavior, Sharon puts her hand on her abdomen. Barnum chin-targets it, click/treat.
This time Barnum immediately rests his chin on Sharon’s thigh after eating his treat. Quick click/treat.
Sharon waits, and Barnum again offers chin-on-thigh, click/treat. Sharon intentionally moves her hand with the piece of hot dog onto her thigh, so that Barnum already has his head in position while eating the treat.
Barnum puts his head back down in almost the same spot, click/treat.
He swings his head over and puts his chin down more in the center of Sharon’s lap. Sharon click/treats right in position, so that immediately after eating the treat, he only has to lower his head an inch, and she can click/treat again.
They repeat this twice more.
Next screen: Then I start selecting for longer or heavier contact.
Next screen: At our next session, I start selecting for cheek/shoulder rolls.
A different day. The room is full of sunlight, and Sharon is not wearing a hat, although she is lying in bed in the same position as before. Barnum is on the bed next to her again.
Barnum puts his chin on Sharon’s thigh in the same spot that ended the previous clip, click/treat. He does it again, click/treat.
He waits for Sharon to grab a handful of treats, then tries laying his head next to her leg. Nothing. He puts it back on her thigh, click/treat.
He puts it right back down in the same spot, click/treat.
He repeats that, but this time Sharon waits. He moves his chin more toward the center of her body and earns a click.
Immediately he puts his head back in the new position, which, because it requires him to stretch further to reach, also has his head turned to the side slightly, so that his cheek is making primary contact, and more of his head is resting on Sharon’s leg.
He puts his head in the same position, but he doesn’t get a click. He tries stretching a bit, laying his head more heavily, and that earns a click.
He licks the quilt cover a couple of times, and he and Sharon make eye contact.
Next screen: Starring: Barnum as SDiT and Sharon as Trainer/Handler
The foundation for Retrieve begins in the Comebefores: Level 1 and 2 Target, and "you'll want your dog very secure in the whole idea of distance and duration."
In the following videos, the dogs also are faced with distractions as we mentor and train in a variety of venues.
In the Game: "Constant attention to the bottom line. If the dog isn't In the Game, make it simpler and simpler and simpler until she IS."
Target: Level 2
Twofers
Rate of Reinforcement
Having a clear criteria.
Working with the dog who showed up.
Once is a fluke, twice is a problem.
Drop the cue and re-teach.
When the trainer is working harder than the dog, the dog isn't learning and neither is the trainer.
Click here to see Cathy and Roo working a full session of Retrieve in yet another location.
Click here to see Lily and Wendi giving examples of Retrieve Level 2.
The dog untangles a leash from around her leg. No cue. The dog has a problem? She must take responsibility to resolve it. There are 5 splits to teaching this behavior.
What this behavior really teaches is conceptual - respect for someone's space.
Both Cathy and I had taught these Steps at home. But now we're in a different location with many distractions, so we reteach again from the beginning. We find it helpful to read each step to each other prior to working our dogs.
Now it becomes clear why these 3 steps are such good prep for teaching the Swing Finish (Left Side/Right Side, Heel or Tuck and Side)
5 splits to teaching this behavior! And each quite different from the other. Steps 1 - 3 are dependent upon each other. Steps 4 and 5 are Problem Solving and relate back to the "give to the collar pressure" in Lazy Leash Step 1.
a) Put the leash in your left hand. Keep your left hand at your left side. Try to hold the leash the same length as you did when you were working Step 1 Lazy Leash. Ahhhh, the value of the Comebefores!!!
It was a lovely summer day on the bay. And this looks like a dog on vacation. But.......but the entry to the floating dock was challenging. Because the dock itself is a floating dock, the walkway to it was not stationary either and extremely noisy from beneath. The stability of the entire venture was totally dependent upon the activity upon the water and the wake of passing boats and ships.
Jan and Nad had plenty of time to practice getting on and off the small water taxi, practicing maintaining balance in different areas of the boat. Jan had Nad working on both Duration and Distance work. One of many activities of a very pleasant day.
A clever sign on a condo lawn!
Cathy conducting her own "Pigeon Camp" - training the disabled pigeon to Come and to Down.
Nad catching a nap at the restaurant.
Lily, just after the waiter dropped a fork on her head.
Lily and Rooster spent two days just hanging out in different Coronado locations. Cathy was looking for appropriate Dog Zen responses. I was looking for relaxed threshold and no stress indicators.
We spent time at the Ferry Landing, in the lobby of Crown Vet, at the entrance to Dog Beach. We spent time at Tidelands Park. We gave the dogs down time and time for sniffing and romping as the only occupants of the fenced dog run at the Marina. We did some LLW down Orange Avenue and briefly vested them both for walks through Von's and Rite Aid.
We trained behaviors at Tidelands Park - Swing Finish and Retrieve. But, other than that, there was no other formal behavior training, no pressure, no hurry. Just relaxed public exposure.
Our arrival interrupted nesting birds who tried chasing us away. We tried unsuccessfully to find the nest.
Cathy and Jan practice L4 Come (all steps) with all dogs.
Having the dogs wait patiently for a drink.
Working on name discrimination.
More work on name discrimination this time with Cathy feeding Lily and Rooster while they wait.
Cathy feeds Lily and Rooster while Jan calls Nad.
Again Cathy feeds while Jan calls the dogs one by one.
Jan whistled for Nad from behind a tree; he started to come then didn't see her and started to head back. Then he turned around to find her; however, Lily found Jan right away! Level 4 Step 5.
Chester, the Pug who lives at the harbor, decided to join us. After a meet and greet all was quiet.
Chester and the dogs play. Cathy has Rooster down amongst all the dogs playing. Lynn is outside the dog run on the other side of the fence. She cues Dog Zen to Lily. Also, Lily demonstrates L7 Come while at this dog park: "Dog checks in with the trainer or Comes when called to a collar touch at least once every 2 minutes in 10 minutes of free play with other dogs."
