12 weeks
2011/04/16
Stitch left on a 3-week working vacation this morning. That’ll give Syn a chance to be an only dog for a while and learn to rely on me more than the obvious draw of the other dog.
I’m re-reading Stitch’s puppy blog. One big difference I see right away is that the kibble I was feeding Stitch was very small. I got many, many repetitions per meal, but she had trouble paying attention to them so I ended up having to give her 3 or 4 bits at once. Syn’s food is a more normal kibble size, big enough to keep her attention, but fewer repetitions, so I’m “forced” to concentrate on fewer behaviours at a time. I think this is a good thing. Because of that, and working diligently through the Levels, Syn is getting a much better foundation than Stitch got, though Stitch’s foundation was better than most dogs have.
So. We had a very good session this morning. I moved to another room with a tile floor instead of carpet, and the frantic behaviour-throwing didn’t kick in when I asked for eye contact, so she passed the 2-second test. I’m not going for longer duration on any behaviour until I convince her that doing nothing IS a behaviour. LOTS of Chutes & Ladders!
She threw a few half-hearted somersaults at me when asked her to give to the leash, but she got nothing for it and soon started calmly releasing the pressure I put on.
She passed the first three Steps of Level 2 Target, up, down, sideways, over HERE, over THERE, with wooden, plastic, and metal objects, so we moved on to Step 4 - touching a sticky note on a wall. I got her to touch it first in my hand. That was a no-brainer. If I’m holding it, she’s touching it. I moved it around, then put a second note on the wall and moved the one in my hand near it. Still good. I put the first one away and tried pointing at the second one - no go, she focused on my hand until I wiggled the note a bit, then she had the idea. Sweet. That took 5 clicks from the beginning. (!) Two more and she was going 4’ to touch it.
Since we were in a new room, with her bed 8’ away, I shaped her to go to the bed. Took awhile for her to get started, making me think about how shaping is a learned skill for trainer AND dog. About 10 clicks in, she seemed to get a clue about what we were doing. Shortly after that (maybe 5 clicks) she was jumping into her bed and lying down.
Since she’s go eager to target things, we finished the session by jumping to Level 3 Retrieve. Step 1 is putting many different objects into her mouth. She got that right away, with 2 different objects - a wooden pencil and a metal spoon handle - and we worked on getting them all the way into her mouth, and on twofers - two “bites” for one click.
For lunch, I was still excited about retrieving, so we worked on that some more. Got a pretty good 1-second quiet hold of the pencil (of course I was still holding it as well).
For supper, I was still excited about shaping, so I shaped her to bump a big ball with her nose. That was fun. She kept forgetting what we were doing, but about midway through the meal she clued in and after that she got every click on the first try.
We went out this evening and left Syn in the big soft crate. When we got home, she wasn't in the crate. I have no explanation for this, unless she climbed out the window in the top, through a tiny bit of open zipper, over her head, without leaving any snags in the mesh on her way out. Very strange.
I thought maybe my husband had put her in the bedroom crate upstairs, so when I saw she wasn't in the soft crate, I went upstairs in the dark to let her out. She was hiding on the other side of my bed and peed when I came into the room, while alternating between barking and whimpering (Please don't eat me, I'm little, but I'll kill you if you come any closer!). She was so excited when I turned on the light and she saw who it was. For once I rewarded her frantic greeting - this time because she really WAS frantic. She calmed down after about 10 minutes. I think she ate something she shouldn't have because her stomach is taut and uncomfortable.
This incident makes me think about puppies left home alone without a crate. We tell people that a crate is a safe place for a puppy, from the owner's point of view AND the puppy's, but this really brought that home. Being loose in the house left her responsible for the whole house - and clearly too young for the task. That wasn't a kindness, it was just a scary time for her. Poor little tyke...
I’m re-reading Stitch’s puppy blog. One big difference I see right away is that the kibble I was feeding Stitch was very small. I got many, many repetitions per meal, but she had trouble paying attention to them so I ended up having to give her 3 or 4 bits at once. Syn’s food is a more normal kibble size, big enough to keep her attention, but fewer repetitions, so I’m “forced” to concentrate on fewer behaviours at a time. I think this is a good thing. Because of that, and working diligently through the Levels, Syn is getting a much better foundation than Stitch got, though Stitch’s foundation was better than most dogs have.
So. We had a very good session this morning. I moved to another room with a tile floor instead of carpet, and the frantic behaviour-throwing didn’t kick in when I asked for eye contact, so she passed the 2-second test. I’m not going for longer duration on any behaviour until I convince her that doing nothing IS a behaviour. LOTS of Chutes & Ladders!
She threw a few half-hearted somersaults at me when asked her to give to the leash, but she got nothing for it and soon started calmly releasing the pressure I put on.
She passed the first three Steps of Level 2 Target, up, down, sideways, over HERE, over THERE, with wooden, plastic, and metal objects, so we moved on to Step 4 - touching a sticky note on a wall. I got her to touch it first in my hand. That was a no-brainer. If I’m holding it, she’s touching it. I moved it around, then put a second note on the wall and moved the one in my hand near it. Still good. I put the first one away and tried pointing at the second one - no go, she focused on my hand until I wiggled the note a bit, then she had the idea. Sweet. That took 5 clicks from the beginning. (!) Two more and she was going 4’ to touch it.
Since we were in a new room, with her bed 8’ away, I shaped her to go to the bed. Took awhile for her to get started, making me think about how shaping is a learned skill for trainer AND dog. About 10 clicks in, she seemed to get a clue about what we were doing. Shortly after that (maybe 5 clicks) she was jumping into her bed and lying down.
Since she’s go eager to target things, we finished the session by jumping to Level 3 Retrieve. Step 1 is putting many different objects into her mouth. She got that right away, with 2 different objects - a wooden pencil and a metal spoon handle - and we worked on getting them all the way into her mouth, and on twofers - two “bites” for one click.
For lunch, I was still excited about retrieving, so we worked on that some more. Got a pretty good 1-second quiet hold of the pencil (of course I was still holding it as well).
For supper, I was still excited about shaping, so I shaped her to bump a big ball with her nose. That was fun. She kept forgetting what we were doing, but about midway through the meal she clued in and after that she got every click on the first try.
We went out this evening and left Syn in the big soft crate. When we got home, she wasn't in the crate. I have no explanation for this, unless she climbed out the window in the top, through a tiny bit of open zipper, over her head, without leaving any snags in the mesh on her way out. Very strange.
I thought maybe my husband had put her in the bedroom crate upstairs, so when I saw she wasn't in the soft crate, I went upstairs in the dark to let her out. She was hiding on the other side of my bed and peed when I came into the room, while alternating between barking and whimpering (Please don't eat me, I'm little, but I'll kill you if you come any closer!). She was so excited when I turned on the light and she saw who it was. For once I rewarded her frantic greeting - this time because she really WAS frantic. She calmed down after about 10 minutes. I think she ate something she shouldn't have because her stomach is taut and uncomfortable.
This incident makes me think about puppies left home alone without a crate. We tell people that a crate is a safe place for a puppy, from the owner's point of view AND the puppy's, but this really brought that home. Being loose in the house left her responsible for the whole house - and clearly too young for the task. That wasn't a kindness, it was just a scary time for her. Poor little tyke...