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.

Training Level 1

Here is my test for Level 1. Level 1 consisted on five items.

1) Come from 20ft
2) Down
3) Sit
4) Target
5) Zen

Come
I had Baron "Wait" for me by my front door and then "Come" when I called.

Down
Down consist of laying down.

Sit
Sit is just that.

Target
To have Baron touch his nose to an object. I use the cue "Touch"

Zen
This one I don't know 100% if we get or don't. Basically it's to show the treat to the dog and close your hands and if the dog doesn't touch your hand for 5 seconds then you drop the treat for him. Baron had no issues with this but I don't think there was anything really learned here.

Level 1 Notes

Just for my notes...

Level 1 consists of the following
1. Come
2. Down
3. Sit
4. Target (Touch)
5. Zen

Touch
Baron is getting "Target" very well so far. We haven't added a cue to the behavior but each time I hold my hand out he touches his nose to my hand. I'm following Lisa Wood's lead on this and using the word "Touch" to cue this behavior rather than "Target".

Zen
I haven't worked on Zen yet but when I tried it with Baron while on Skype with Lisa he had absolutely no interest in the treat in my closed hand so I'm not worried about that LOL.

Come
Baron is doing well with Come .  Prior to working Levels Troy and I had already started playing a version of the "Come" game by having him come to us  and treating him. When he ran to one of us when we didn't call we ignored him.   We took that game to the dog park one evening when no one was around and that really helped to reinforce the cue.

Sit
So far no problems with Sit. Sometimes he is a bit slow to perform the cue but he is doing it.  He's not getting the sit from Down to Sit so we will have to work on that.  So far with this Level it's not asking for us to do that though.

Down
Down is doing well at home but today during Obedience class I had to take it to step 1 with him and lure him to a Down.  At least THIS time luring was easier than when we first started.  I think for "Down" I'll use a flat hand with palm facing down to signal "Down" but I need to work on this.

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Five things I hope to accomplish by working levels

1) A better understanding of training
2) Foundation for training
3) A better behaved Baron
4) A better relationship with Baron
5) A confident Baron

Start of Level 1 work

Last night Baron and I started working on Levels with Lisa Wood who graciously offered to team up with me. So far Baron did rather well on the cues I previously started working with him on. Sit, Down, and Come. The two other cues, Zen (leave it) and touch has never been worked on with him but I think it won't take long for him to understand.

With Level 1 "Zen" Baron already doesn't try to persist to get to the treat in my closed fist so we shouldn't have any problems there.

Level 1 "Touch" should be fairly easy for him to get as he already is "touching" my palm with his nose when I place it in front of him. The next step will be to have him move forward to touch rather than have me place my hand directly in front of his nose.

Lisa and I will work on "Wait" (stay), "go to mat" and Loose Leash Walking (LLW). Baron has already been doing rather well with Wait and has been working on LLW.

Lisa explained her criteria for "Wait" is to be able to walk around her dog when he is sitting and step over him when he is laying down so I'll adopt that criteria as well.

My criteria for LLW , level 1 is the following

1) Baron is the correct "zone".

The Zone is defined as walking on my left side, between me and the point where his leash becomes taut.

2) Once any pulling occurs on the leash, walking will stop. When leash becomes slack again the walking will resume.



Right now Baron is understanding rule #2 but doesn't get rule #1 very well however only when Baron is in this zone is when I will click.

I would like to move the criteria up to a point where Baron understands that sniffing and moving to the right and across my path is not acceptable but this will probably have to be addressed as we continue working on LLW. For now when Baron starts to sniff around I continue moving or call him to me. I'll have to see if there is a better way to address this.

There is also no cue for LLW. I am currently working on this but not sure if a cue is required. I consider this more of a rule than a cue but I'll address this later as well.

Pending items for me right now are the following

1) What hand signal would I like for "down".
2) what cue word would I like for "go to mat"
3) Not discussed but what hand signal for "sit".