The Project - Day 1

Apple - back into a box, back feet only

As described, we have already worked on this in class with the big box like a Kleenex box and then again the next day with a plain lower sided box.  Gimme has very sophisticated awareness of her back feet and often uses them independent of her front feet.  Our final goal will be to have her step the back feet in without first stepping in and/or through with her front feet. 

Orange - get onto a small perch with all four feet
Gimme loves to get on things, so this should come easily.  I have a small low plastic step stool that should be ideal for this.

Grape - dead bug (on back, feet in the air)

Gimme already offers rolling over all the time.  Its kind of funny how she does it, since she tends to hurl herself down and uses that momentum for the roll.  She also likes to include furniture and other "things" in her rollovers.  She will throw herself against a piece of furniture, sliding to the floor and then rolling over toward the furniture, which she kicks off with her with her feet, front and back.  It will likely prove challenging for her to slow down and be more deliberate in what she does, but it will be necessary if she is going to do it at class where there are cement floors.

Peach - head under a chair

I believe this will come very easy to Gimme. 

Melon - push cube with nose

I created a cute Dalmatian spotted cube that is roughly 4 inches by 4 inches.  I'm thankful that I used a LOT of clear packing tape on it.   Based on this first session, its going to be taking a LOT of abuse.

I wasn't thinking clearly when I picked this trick.  Somehow I thought it would be easy to shape my busy girl into touching and pushing a cube with her nose.  Hah!  Did I forget that she thinks anything on the ground has to be explored with her feet?  The behaviors I got included:

• skiing across the carpet with both front feet on the cube
• pouncing on it with both front feet
• standing on it with both front feet
• batting it across the room with one foot
• both feet on, forehand pivot
• stepping on with one back foot
• trying to step on it with both back feet
• kicking it with a back foot
• digging at it with front feet
• rolling on her back and flipping it into the air like a ball of yarn
• standing over it and spinning around it with no feet on
• hugging it with both front feet

In this first session in my living room, there were dozens more offerings, but they were happening so fast that I couldn't keep them in my head.  Would have been great to get THAT all on video.  I thought by clicking before she got there, that it would slow her down and drop a hint that foot interaction wasn't what I wanted.  A couple times it did, but after that she took the click as validation of her plans and would still do whatever she had in mind then spin back toward me and demand the treat for the click.  Obviously that wasn't working. 

I tried waiting her out and only rewarding mouth interaction.  I thought for sure she would pulverize my lovely Dalmatian spotted cube before we got any.  When she finally did get her mouth on it, I clicked away, not realizing that from where I was standing I couldn't see that her feet were still involved.  When I sat on the couch I could see better and tried only clicking when her feet weren't touching it.  I did start getting more mouth and a little less feet, but the rate of reinforcement was dropping waaaay down and I could see she was losing interest.

So I decided to take a page from the way Denise Fenzi, Shirley Chong and others teach a dumbbell retrieve.  I held the cube in my hand and presented it to her, click/treat for mouth only touch, and then gradually lowering it to the ground.  After we extinguished the front paw grab of it, it still took quite awhile to shape not-biting, trying to get her to offer more of a nose touch/push.  I hope this doesn't confuse the dumbbell retrieve we've been working on, since we are just getting a light gripping bite on the bit.  I'm counting on the fact the cube and dumbbell are totally different to make it clear to her that the behavior I'm looking for is also different. 

In the course of shaping for a nose touch, Gimme came up with some interesting ideas of what I "could" be looking for.  She went through a period of touching it with her cheek or the side of her muzzle.  She also tried touching it with her hip, shoulder, side, and tail.  No one can ever say she isn't a real thinker.  At one point she thought maybe backing away and barking at it would pay off - NOT!  There was also a brief effort at standing near it and turning her head way.

By the end of 120 treats I was getting nose touches and even had it on the ground, as long as I kept one hand on it.  She was slowing down (maybe getting full).  Sometimes she would just look at me like I'd lost my mind to want such a stupid and boring thing... and then touch it with a very deliberate and careful touch.  These deliberate touches were from a down, which inhibited her movement toward the cube.  It wasn't my intention that a down be part of the behavior, so we'll sort that out tomorrow.  I think it may have been a side affect of me sitting on the couch, when the cube was on the floor and I still had one hand on it that meant I was bending over her somewhat, which may have inhibited her.  Tomorrow I will try this sitting on the ground and carefully shape out the down. 

Do note I said we used up at least 120 treats.  I didn't count, but there were a LOT of them.  This session was about 10 minutes.  Obviously its not my preference to spend such a long time and such a large number of treats on one task.  Clearly there are times when she is quite willing to persist and train for a long time and persist on one task.  I wonder now why this was so intriguing for her and why she was so engaged for so long.  Her attitude was amazing.  We could have gone on even longer.