The Project - Day 9

I have multiple lists of all the things I want to get done before we leave when dawn cracks tomorrow morning. I just don't want to have any detractors. I want it all to go smoothly.

The closer it gets to tomorrow, the more nervous I get. I've competed before in obedience, in conformation and a LOT in agility and I don't ever remember feeling this nervous. The only explanation I have is that I just want to do well so people will be impressed by Gimme and love and admire her as much as I do. I have an emotional investment in this debut, wanting people to see the adorable, loving, smart and funny darling that I've been blessed to live with. I want them so jealous.

I have to keep reminding myself that she's just a puppy and that almost anything could, and probably will, happen. Whatever - I know it will be fun - I always have fun with Gimme.

Apple - back into a box, back feet only
I did a session of this and again Gimme persisted in the front feet first approach, even though I very carefully did not click that, not even a freebie. Toward the end she was getting it right 9 out of 10 times. Then when I switched so that I was on the other side, relative to her approach, she went back to the front feet in first approach.

When she gets it right now, she is actually approaching it head on and then turning away with her front and essentially side-stepping in with the back feet. We got very few backing in today. Somewhere along the way I must have muddied the waters, because she was backing in a lot better and more often before.

We won't get to work on this for a couple of days because I don't have room in the car for the box w/platform with all the other stuff I'm taking for the weekend. When we do come back to it, I may rethink how I set it up so that we get better success. She's so eager I don't want to frustrate her. It occurs to me that I really need to get the mirror in place so I can see more clearly what is happening and click more accurately and timely. That may be all we need.

Orange - get onto a small perch with all four feet
Not trained today.

Grape - dead bug (on back, feet in the air)
Not trained today.

Peach - head under a chair
Another WOOHOO... its on cue! Despite a slow start (its pretty hot today and the training building doesn't have the best air flow), when Gimme really got going, she was very steadily putting her head under the chair. AND she was putting it in further than before. Before she put her nose under and I accepted that; today was her whole head. A couple times when I clicked a bit late it was clear that Gimme was ready to go under the chair and come out the other side, if need be. 

                            *** No behavior is ever good enough the way I
                            design it, Gimme always wants to embellish. ***

What I was most proud of was how quickly this went on cue. Just 15 reps between the three different stages and she had it. Then we did the test: sit, touch, touch, sit, peach. Again she was really slow the first time, giving me that sideways look. After that she responded to "Peach" quickly for two more mixed sets.

Then just as suddenly, her understanding of the cue was gone. Ursula said it wasn't gone, she was just mentally fatigued, probably exacerbated by the heat. I knew she was right when I thought about it, because the speed in response to "sit" dissipated too, though "touch" was still fast (but its a less demanding behavior). Sure enough when I tried it again later, she went right to it.

Melon - push cube with nose 
Not trained today.

I now have two behaviors that are ready to go to the third stage of learning: waiting for the cue before performing the behavior. Ursula calls that the "true obedience" stage, because in free shaping the dog is in control. When they learn to wait for the cue, the control passes back to the person. When the dog isn't getting rewarded for what they want, they may try to get those rewards by offering their default behavior. So its important when you are working on the wait for the cue, that you refrain from rewarding a dog's offering of their default behavior.
There are four different ways to teach the third stage:

1. Extinction - simply stop rewarding the behavior unless you have cued for it. Be aware that you will likely get an extinction burst and it can take awhile for the dog to give it up. You will see a lot of frustration. Once they stop offering, then cue it again and reward performance on cue.
2. Extending the cue - when you are naming a behavior, you start by saying the cue while the dog is performing and saying it earlier and earlier over multiple repetitions, until you are saying the cue before the behavior has begun. You can continue extending how early you say the cue, until you have created a wait.
3. Mixed sets - repeating the mixed sets, interspersing the newly named behavior in with well known behaviors, will teach the wait, especially as you add time between the cues. Of course, you must have other behaviors on cue that are well known to use this option.
4. Click for waiting - actually click/treating the momentary pauses between repetitions will help the dog to understand that "not doing" has value too.

Of all of these, I think I like the fourth option, click for waiting, the best. It seems to me that it would be the clearest to the dog. Also, by applying that while doing option three, mixed sets, it should go very quickly.