Bathtime is easy!

 This isn't the best picture to show you but I gave Baron a bath for the first time today and it was easy because I used a clicker.

I first had him learn how to get into a tub.  I started by stepping into the tub myself and encouraging him to put his front feet into the tub and C/T (clicking and treating) when he did.

After a few successful reps of this I upped the criteria and C/T for each progression into the tub.

I then told him to stay and stepped out of the tub and encouraged him to get out.  I then encouraged him to get back into the tub and C/T him for that.

We went a few rounds of in and out of the tub and being C/T.  It's now his new favourite game and you can see his confidence  each time he hopped into the tub and out again.

So now I add a new element.  Water!   I started the faucet going at a slow flow and we were back to square one where I had to be in the tub and C/Ting each progression he made but this time it was much faster because he got the game.

We did a few rounds again of in/out of the tub and C/Ting.

Next was to have him stay in the tub while I C/T and slowly increased the water flow.  I C/T each slight increase and lots of praise for him staying.  I let him drink the water from the faucet  and then grabbed a cup and dripped a bit of water on him and C/T him for that.

Each step was done slow and C/Ted and praised but we got it done and he seems to be a happy dog.

This bath round I made it quick and only washed his back and avoided his head.  I'll increase the criteria later on, maybe next week but I know I need to take this slow.

Afterwards we did a few more rounds of in/out of the tub so he wouldn't get the impression that each time I want him in the tub it would mean a bath.  At least I hope not ;)

BTW, I had a towel on the floor and in the tub to prevent him from slipping.

Treat Training With Baron

So yesterday I covered my hands with canned dog food for Baron to lick off, he already seems to get this but when I move on to giving treats he's back to using his teeth.

I'm trying a different approach which honestly feels like it's working out better and it's to offer him the treat and if he uses his tongue, click and release the treat.

I think I'm going to go both routes for a while and see how it goes. I'll build up the second part, where I offer him the treat at faster delivery rates with him.

New ideas to train Baron to take treats

One of the good things about being part of a training community is there are so many smart people there. One person responded to my post about Baron's lack of interest and peanutbutter and suggested canned cat food.

Another post I have read (unrelated) talked about frequency and duration of training and suggested training should be kept to once or twice a week.

This has inspired me! I think I'm going to feed Baron a meal of canned dog food once or twice a week and see if this helps him learn not to snap at my poor fingers.

Training Baron to take a treat

I'm still trying to train Baron to take a treat. I've been using the suggestion of having him lick peanutbutter from the palm of my hands and that went fine. I then moved it up to him licking the peanutbutter from my fingers and he tried to use his teeth so I went back to the palms then later back to my fingers.

He went to licking my fingers without any problems but this hasn't resolved him from using his teeth to take treats from me.

Today I went through the Yahoo group list and combined all the suggestions I received when I first brought up this problem with Baron and I'm going to try again however I need something other than peanutbutter as Baron quickly loses interest in it.

I don't think I should have to encourage him to lick it off my hands . Also maybe a higher valued treat would help get this lesson across to him.


A summary of suggestions given to me previously...

On treat delivery...I agree that tossing is useful sometimes, expecially when
the dog is a few feet away, like on a mat, and you don't want it to get up to
come over to you. But I also agree that in a nippy dog, it can make the issue
worse. So as is often the case, it's all about timing!

One more option for treat delivery to consider is to put a box next to you, or a
small tray table about the same size. Then you can set the treat on that
instead of tossing or dropping it on the floor. This does two things--it gets
the treat still before the dog takes it, reducing the excitement level, and it
has the dog take it from a position of control, so it doesn't have to lunge or
snap to get it in its mouth.

Later when you're practicing taking treats from the hand without nipping you can
even just put the treat on your hand on the box in the same place the dog is
used to picking it up. Still treat, still hand. The idea again is just to
build the dog's confidence that the treat will be there, he doesn't have to
"catch" it to get it and your hand is no longer the signal that he HAS to move
fast to get it.

FWIW,
Robin J.



My suggestion: Put the peanut butter inside your palm, and close your hand on
his nose (letting the nose escape) if he is rough. And be really, really fussy
about your definition of rough. And no clicker. And don't hesitate to holler
'OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!' even BEFORE he touches you, if he is exuberant.

You said, "I often end up with him biting me or snapping at me when I'm too
quick in delivering the treat to him." but, no, he doesn't bite you because you
are too quick. He bites you because he has not learned how not to bite you. Or
maybe, he has not learned the correct way to use his teeth on you.



When she was a puppy, I worked on this a lot and one way that I did this
was to crate her and give her her treats through the wires of the crate.
I would present the treat so she could tongue it.
When I felt her tongue is would mark the tongue lick with "yes"
and reward by letting her have the treat.
Just some more ideas.
Maybe one or another might be helpful.
Lynn

I don't know the answer to that, but I once had an entire litter of 6-week-old
Giant Schnauzers who were just EVIL with their teeth. I'd never heard of this
solution, and I really felt that I'd be pulling back bloody stumps, but I coated
my hands in liverwurst and amazingly, they all licked my hands clean and after
that they were very gentle with their mouths.

I'd combine the gooey-stuff solution with Lynn's great suggestion of feeding
through crate bars.

It seems to confirm, in their minds, that hands really are different. If this
works, you can then put the peanut butter on the 'nubby bits' of your hand, i.e.
the fingers. Around all the knuckles, top, bottom, and sides.

Time to revise and revisit this.

Testing "Touch" and cleaning up Level 1

I went through all the e-mails I had been compiling from the Yahoo Group "Training Levels" and found a few from me back in January when I was training Baron. Back then there was a long conversation about how Baron didn't look "in the game" and what could be done about it.

I feel Baron is more in the game now for sure but even though I think and received confirmation that he passed Level 1 I would like to work a bit on tighten up his responses to cues.

Also since I've been back I have found that Sue eh? has published her new Training Levels in book form and they are different then the old Training Levels. I have put in an order for a hard copy and I want to go through Level 1 via. her book instead.

Something I found while browsing through all those old emails was this comment.

To answer your original question! -- How can you test if Baron really knows what "touch" means?

Stand silently, without stick and without holding out your hand. Have clicker and a treat in hand, behind your back, so he can't cue off of an involuntary hand twitch. Say, Baron, touch! See if he looks around excitedly for something to touch (such as your hand). If he just stands there, or if he offers another behavior (such as a sit or a down or whatever), he doesn't know the cue.

I think I'll put Baron to the test tonight to see how he acts. I actually anticipate he will offer another behavior if not instead but when I don't provide him a target.

This is MY fault. I am not a good trainer unfortunately but I would like to be. I receive a ton advice from people and sometimes all of it gets jumbled up in my head and no two people really do things the same all the time. So one of my goals before I try to start working on Level II is to first work on retraining / training me. Go back to practicing clicking and clicker timing. I also want to practice and get into the habit of breaking down exactly what I want a cue to mean. Not knowing this myself I think I confuse my poor dog. Then I want to go over Level 1 again.

Boarding Baron this wednesday.

Troy and I are heading to Port Aransas this weekend in honor of Troy’s father who passed away last March. Troy’s father wanted to be cremated and his ashes released on a bonfire at the beach. I scheduled to have Taelia and Sinia boarded at Petsmart and had planned on my friend Jame’s dog sitting Baron so he will have more freedom but when we took Baron to meet James’s dog , Brandy took an instant dislike to Baron. Brandy hid under the dining room table and barked and I think snapped at Baron. Baron only wanted to play and I don’t think he understood that Brandy’s behavior wasn’t friendly.

Anyways so I’m going to board Baron at Petsmart, I’ll pay a little extra for him to be placed in doggy day camp for some exercise. I probably should have done some sort of “meet and greet” between him and Brandy off on neutral grounds and the reason I didn’t think about doing this is I’ve known Brandy most of her life and she hadn’t had any issues with dogs before but she has several behavior issues which I don’t think James addresses , one in which she demonstrated last year which ended up with her getting bit. James was keeping three dogs (two large, one small) for his sister and Brandy demonstrated extreme resource guarding to a point where she would stand in front of the door where he keeps her food and bark at the other dogs if they got near the door. At one point I think her behavior initiated a confrontation with other dog and the dog bit her.

This maybe why now she is acting the way she is. However between last year and this year Jame’s girlfriend moved in with her dog, Sandy Love and Brandy gets along fine with Sandy Love. Go figure. I’m sure there is something about Baron which Brandy doesn’t like but for his safety I’m not going to force the issue . Baron is already pretty submissive and I would like to build his confidence up more and I don’t want to add fear of dogs to the list.

Grab It

E-mailed this to Clicker Solutions today.

Something I would love to have some constructive critisim on . Baron naturally developed grabbing a toy when I told him to "Bring it to me". It amazes me and I want to fine tune this. We started out playing fetch together and it was a way for me to teach him to fetch. He use to love chasing after balls and toys and would go after them, grab them but never come back to me with it. It made for a boring game of fetch for sure. Well after reading advice I saw here I developed the rules of fetch to be if I throw it and you don't bring it back the game has ended. Baron started to bring it back to me after a while but would drop the toy a good foot or two from me. My rules were, bring it to me not drop it a foot from me so I would point at it and I would tell him "Bring it to me". After a few times he started actually picking up the toy and handing it to me!

Last week he took a new toy we bought him and carried it out to the dog kennel outside when he went potty and left the toy there. I told him him "Bring me your toy" and amazing, he went to the kennel and brought back the toy! Ok so this maybe a fluke but I decided that this is an amazing skill and I want to actually put it to work so I've started working with him on it.

So far I've decided that "Bring it to me" is too wordy and I've started with the cue of pointing at the object. I'm not 100% sure what I want the ultimate goal to be. I think I would like two goals from this. 1) I want to point to an object and he pick it up and give it to me and 2) tell him to "Grab ___ (your ball)" or "Grab my house shoes"

My current rules are

1) He has to hand the object to me.
2) He must bring it straight to me. (No running around with it for example)

Here is a video of us working on "Grab it"




So my question to everyone is

1) What cues / tricks can I develop this into?
2) Should I work this into a verbal cue and if so what ? I was thinking of adding the verbal cue "Grab it" later but I wonder how well this would work if I want to use it with multiple objects.
3) Any other suggestions on training / developing this?