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Summer School blog 28th Oct

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Posted October 29th, 2008 by Aidan

Recalls -
today we mostly worked on recalls, one dog at a time. The idea was to teach each person the criteria we were looking for in both new and returning dogs so that we could work in separate groups in future classes without direct supervision. Recalls will make up a big part of the class curriculum for both normal and reactive dogs.

New dogs -
the aim is to set up a predictable pattern, dog goes from one person to the other to get a treat and that is it. The two people could be a very short distance apart, we just want the dog to take food from person A, then person B, repeating.

When that pattern is reliable and the dog stops waiting at one person for another treat, then we add distance. Just one step back at first.

Prompting is allowed, so long as "come" or the dog's name aren't used. I used to insist on no prompts, but this went slowly with some dogs and was harder on the handler's nerves and patience ;-) In reality, there are always prompts. Holding your hand out is a prompt, dogs do not miss this sort of thing.

Returning dogs -
Played "come game" with 3 people, randomly using recall cue.

Played "come game" with 2 people, handler using whistle instead of or prior to verbal cue. Because these dogs will predict the pattern easily, putting a new cue on is easy. We know >90% the dog will perform the behavior regardless of whether we cue it or not.

No reinforcement for uncued responses.

No reinforcement for no response to cue within a silently counted "1 Alligator".

Deliberate distractions were not used in this session.

Parallel walking, Sabella and Archie -
this went MUCH better this week, except for a cheeky off-lead terrier who decided to terrorise Archie. Anna did the best she could in the circumstances and I don't think any harm was done at all, she handled this situation very confidently and was able to get Archie back in the game very quickly.

Parallel walk went well, no reactions from either dog. We pushed the boundary without error.

At the end of 1 lap, Anna and Archie stayed still while Sabella and I circled. Both dogs were clearly about to react, but neither did. Lots of reinforcement for looking at each other without reaction.

Jane (absent this week) sent me an email. A whistle will be inappropriate for Frankie as he is sound-sensitive. I have decided that sound-sensitive dogs will be excused from being trained to recall to whistle, and we will substitute with a second verbal cue; e.g one person will use the normal verbal cue for example "come" and the other person will use a second trained cue nominated by the handler, for example "here doggy".

This will give handlers a chance to train a very formal cue, never used casually, rarely used outside of controlled set-ups. This might be a sound that travels long distances, or it might be something that a member of the general public might use if trying to call a dog away from a busy highway, for e.g

Next week we will expand on this week's lessons.

Homework - loose leash, hold ball. Cindy and Remus to work on tug games as a priority, Paying Attention exercises if any spare time.

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