This turned out to be a session on CRITERIA, GENERALIZATION and on the 3Ds: DURATION, DISTANCE and DISTRACTIONS.
GO TO MAT
We began by reviewing GO TO MAT. Then re-introduced the cue as she was volunteering the behavior. Then gave the cue before she was voluntarily headed for the mat.
We began to generalize the behavior by moving the mat and re-teaching the behavior from scratch.
We moved the mat a third time. Dale is now in a different location in the room. Lily continued GOING TO the mat, but needed to be cued to DOWN on the mat.
We moved the mat to yet another location in the room
This was interesting. Lily had to pass her new soft pink mat to get to the blanket, so when Dale cued "Go lie down", she did. But on the pink mat. Softer, maybe? Closer?
With the pink mat removed, Lily's back on track. But Dale drops the cue and starts again teaching from scratch.
At a distance of 10', Lily still GOES TO the mat, but isn't certain about lying down on it once she gets there. Just out of sight to the left on the screen, is a large box that Dale brought containing dehydraters. Could she be smelling those? Or is there some other new smell just at the edge of the blanket that has her attention? Whatever it was, it was a big DISTRACTION.
Dale reaches some good conclusions.
CRATE
Following Go to Mat we re-introduced CRATE. This week, though, the crate has been put together. So we are treating it as a new behavior.
Surprising lessons right from the beginning. First, notice how the position of Dale's body and its relationship to the crate affect Lily's response.
"Oh", Lily says, "You want me to get IN it?"
And Dale's clicker replies, "Now that you are GOING In so nicely, I'd also like you to BE in the crate".
GO IN.
BE IN.
Lie down in.
Stay in for a while.
What is the criteria for CRATE: L2?
Enters crate from 5'. Remains in crate while handler closes door and opens it.
Dale attempts to generalize the behavior by once again moving to the side and re-teaching. (When you change anything about a behavior, you make everything else easier) In generalizing here, Dale moves himself in very small increments using Chutes and Ladders. Lily understands this "explanation".
Now Dale INTRODUCES the cue.
NOTE: My Crate cue is "House". But Dale is changing the cue to "Get In"
We have already learned one way of changing the cue, using the formula:
New Cue + Old Cue + Behavior + C/T
A second way of changing the cue is to re-teach the behavior and, in the proper sequence, introduce the new cue.
As Sue says, "Once is a fluke, twice is a problem". Time to drop the cue and re-teach. Dale knows!
We generalize the behavior by moving the crate and facing it in a different direction. Dale is standing in a different location in the room. Watch what happens!
Dale re-teaches from scratch. But look at Lily's position IN the crate. She is responding to Dale's click. When he changes his criteria, Lily's position changes. This is DEFINITELY a clicker trained dog. Just watch the "power" of the clicker. This is what Sue means when she talks about the clicker being a precision instrument.
Although we had been taking quick breaks between short sessions thus far, now we packed up treats, camera and dog and moved to the living room. Dale has never trained Lily in the living room before.
We started with PUPPY PUSHUPS (cue discrimination)
sit/down/brace
I showed Dale how the game is played.
Aha! I tried "helping" Lily along. Cheater!
Then it was Dale's turn. Dale included WATCH into the mix and got a beautiful 30 second duration AND an interesting discussion to boot!
DURATION
We sat a chatted while Lily took 40 winks on the floor, then did some Duration work. Dale began with Sit Stay. Then went on to Down Stay.
Stand Stay caused Lily some confusion. One reason Sue begins the Stay behaviors with Down and Sit is because those behaviors were introduced in Level 1 and the dog has been doing them for several weeks or months already.
Stand (Brace) is first introduced in Level 2. Stand Stay is also introduced in Level 2, but the dog is far less experienced in Stand at this point.
Here Lily demonstrates her understanding of the Stay cue. Watch how everything changes when Dale "explains" what he wants by adding the Stay cue.
VISIT
Our final behavior today was Lily's "Visit" behavior. I wanted to see if she could generalize the behavior by doing it cold for another person.
Dale had high value treats. I had kibble. By sitting next to Dale, and each of us asking for the same behavior, Lily was able to quickly understand what we wanted.....without having to re-teach the behavior.
No comments:
Post a Comment