Recycling (3)

We've just done another session and she's progressing very well.

We started out with the tin can.  I clicked a few times for picking it up and then withheld clicks until she got it in the bin.  We worked on this for quite a bit and I did something different.  She got it in twice and then seemed to get stuck on picking up the can and then dropping it right away.  So three times, I'd pick it up myself, make a big show of tossing it in the bin, celebrate with an excited high pitched "Yaaaaay", pretend to eat a piece of cheese and then give her a piece.  Then I let her try.  When she still didn't get it, I repeated the demonstration.  Right after the second demonstration she started getting it in the bin consistently on her own.  She mostly dropped it once on the way, but got really excited about picking it up right away and dropping it in on the second try.

She was more excited by my excited high pitched "Yaaaaay" followed by a jackpot than she was by the click.  I've often said she works a lot for me and training is more about our interaction than it is about treats.  For instance, she is content to work for treats I will give her despite the main container being readily available to her.  She could easily snatch a mouthful and on rare occasions she has, so she knows she can and she knows I won't punish her for cheating, yet she still refrains.  Likewise she will not steal treats left in a dish on the end table when I'm in another room, though she could and I probably wouldn't even realize it.  This despite being the typical Dalmatian spotted bottomless pit.  She is the same way about her toys.  She'll try to entice me to play with her and the toys.  If she is unsuccessful and still wants to play, she brings the toy and lays across my lap to play with it.  So, if I won't join her in play, she'll bring the play to me.  Anyway, her response to the "Yaaaaay" fits this theme.

After the big success with the can, we worked with a plastic bottle.  Boyoh was it ever a challenge.  She's played with them before, so I knew she had no problem picking them up.  Then I realized she was looking for the can; she had associated the excited high pitched "Yaaaaay" to the can.  I had to use the clicker to get her interested in the bottle, but she wasn't as enthusiastic as she'd been with the can.  Finally she accidentally dropped the bottle in the bin, got a "Yaaaaay" and a jackpot, then she was all about the bottle, deliberately dropping it in the bin several times.

We ended with a test of her understanding about getting multiple items in the bin.  I put out a piece of rolled up stiff paper, a tin can and a bottle.  She very quickly got all three into the bin for me.  

At this rate, I think we'll do one more session of multiple items, solidifying the getting-them-in-the-bin part, no matter what item I indicate.  Then the next step is understanding to take them to the bin even when its not close to me.  She's brilliant, so I'm sure she'll get it.

Lordy she is fun to train.