Teaching L2 Mat

The trainers in the novice class were instructed to

"teach" a L1 or L2 behavior, giving the comebefores,

steps used to teach the behavior, when to add the cue,

and at least one BMO.

Coaching Session

 On  Tuesday the 16th of this month Mark, Connie and I met at a  beach on Camp Pendleton. I brought Gunner and Tommy to work with. There were some very interesting obstacles to work around, on and under. There was the standard issue picnic table to walk on, a few wobbly telephone poles in the sand to try to stradle [not an easy behavior when you have 4 legs] and a road side parking lot to practice LLW. And the road which had many distractions! Columns of soldiers and noisy tanks paraded up and down for the first hour we were there. The dogs took almost no interest in either.

  Connie worked Tommy on LL in the parking lot. He behaved very well for her taking into account all the distractions. The biggest distractions for him, in the first hour, were nearby seagulls and a rock on the pavement, that held his keen interest all morning. Connie was very relaxed with both dogs and is a quick study. The dogs visibly enjoyed working with her.

  We moved onto the sand at one point, where 2 multi-piece structures sat jutting out of the sand. They consisted of a main circular pediment about 20" in diameter, with 4 poles of varying heights stationed at varying distances from the center structure. Mark couldn't resist! He asked Gunner and Tommy to stand on the center obstacle and then to touch the ouside poles. Which they did willingly on the 2 shorter, closer poles. The 2 other poles were considerably farther from the center obstacle.With Mark's gentle coaching both dogs repeatedly made furtive attempts to reach the 2 taller of the 4 poles. Mark used  the "touch" signal to encourage them. The distance was just to great...Gunner tried so hard he lost his balance a couple of times and jumped to the ground.

Patti Mix

Landry?

Dale is sure to ask, "Where are the videos of Landry?"

Except for the Flip of Landry too busy exploring and making friends to be In the Game, there were no videos of Landry at the Puppy Class.

But he was In the Game from time to time. Just out of camera range (the Flip was stationary on its tripod)

He beautifully did his Level 1 behaviors, demonstrated an excellent understanding of volunteering Sit, Down, Touch, and Go to Mat. He gave 8 seconds of Sit Stay and 12 seconds of Down Stay. And an interesting demonstration of shaping Crate. His Level 2 Retrieve skills are spot on.

So, not to worry. BOTH puppies got in lots of good training during the class.

Mallory gives focus and attention

Despite all the distractions in this new environment, Mallory once again is able to give her focus and attention to Sharon and to complete her Level 1 behaviors.

Shaping Mallory

Using the clicker and treats (shaping), we briefly introduce Mallory to Go to Mat. One short session, training "a handful at a time".

She's a long way from understanding the behavior, but she is responding to being shaped and is well on her way to going to the mat, the first steps described in Steps: Go to Mat: Level 2.

Steps: Go to Mat: Level 2: Easy Beginnings

1. Get your treats, clicker, and mat.
2. Sit down and put your mat on the floor close to you where you think the dog will naturally be when she realizes you have food – probably right in front of you.
3. The dog comes over, stands on the mat, you click (boy, training dogs is hard work). That's setting yourself up for success, then waiting for the behavior to happen so you can catch it.
4. Click and toss the treat on the mat X10, then toss the next treat off the mat.
5. Click when the dog returns to the mat and toss the next ten treats on the mat, then another one off the mat.

Sharon,

Do you remember introducing the Go to Mat behavior to Molly at a mentoring session in Balboa Park?

In the Game

......or not, as the case may be.

Landry gives us a classic example of being over his threshold in this environment. Is he stressed? Absolutely not. He's just way too distracted by the world on the other side of the windows, the new human friends sitting in the room (who did a wonderful job, by the way, of folding their arms and not giving Landry any eye contact when he jumped up saying, "Look at me! Look at me! Aren't I a cute puppy?"), the smells, Molly over in the corner and Mallory in her tent.

He gave a half hearted response to Mark and Lynn's attempt to involve him in The Come Game, but at this point in the class, he was still not ready to focus on trainers or treats.

No sense in continuing. We'll try again later.

Re-teaching DOWN: L1

After the dog has learned the Down behavior, in Before Moving Down, Sue writes:

"Play with the behavior. Teach it from the beginning in different rooms, indoors and outdoors."

Teach it from the beginning. That one little sentence is often overlooked and, instead, we just have the dog do the behavior in different places. But when we consistently teach it from the beginning, it makes the behavior stronger and stronger.

Teach it from the beginning. Here we were with Mallory and Landry, definitely in a different room. What better place, then, to re-teach the Down behavior. We went back to the beginning.

TEACHING THE DOWN BEHAVIOR

"You can also lure a Down, but that's easier to do when she already knows how to Sit."

Mallory has a wonderful Sit. A default Sit. She knows in her soul that if you sit, something good will follow. So Mallory sits.......and waits to be told or to be shown what to do next.

Instead of waiting and waiting to capture Mallory lying down on her own, we are going to expedite the learning and lure her into a Down.

First, to "tell" Mallory that she can switch her focus from Sharon and work with Lynn, Lynn gives Rapid Fire Reinforcement and then the luring begins.

CRITERIA:

Mallory follows the food lure into a Down position

CRITERIA:

Steps: " Click when she does (lie down) and toss a treat between her paws so she can eat it without having to get up. Continue to click and toss every few seconds while she's still lying down."

Let's review what Sue says about luring in Steps

" From a Sit, hold a treat in your hand, put it right up to her nose so she can nibble it a bit, then very slowly move it down and then forward. If she rises out of the Sit, you moved your treat too far forward and not enough down. You're aiming for a spot on the floor slightly in front of her front paws."

Sharon's Down cue is a handsignal: bending down herself with her finger pointing to the floor.

Can you see where she is cueing Mallory instead of luring her?

What is the difference between cueing and luring?

Who is doing the work here?

Who is doing all the thinking?

A word of warning about luring

Steps again: "Be careful with luring – lure with the treat maybe five times, then make the same gesture with your empty hand. If the dog follows your hand and downs, click and treat. If she doesn't, lure with the treat maybe twice more, and try it without again. You're trying to get rid of the treat in your hand as quickly as possible."

We are training "a handful (of treats) at a time", giving Mallory a break each time that Sharon reloads her treat hand. Each of the above Flips was a session in itself and frequently Mallory went back into her tent while we worked with Landry.

Landry has a better understanding of volunteering behaviors, so he progressed through the training process of this particular behavior more rapidly and we were able to introduce the cue with him.


WHEN DO WE INTRODUCE THE CUE?

Steps: "When the dog is offering you the down that you want, clearly knowing that the offering will result in a click, you can begin to tell her the name of the behavior."

So Landry demonstrated his understanding of offering the behavior after (hypothetically) luring him into a down 50X. Mallory doesn't yet understand to offer the down on her own, so (again, hypothetically) she may need the explanation 100X before beginning to offer it on her own. Each dog is different.

Still volunteering the Sit.

We won't add ANY cue (handsignal or verbal) until Mallory begins to OFFER the Down on her own.

Puppy Class Overview: 9/2/10

Sharon/Mallory

Lynn/Landry

Mark Plummer

Ericka

Guests:

Connie

Romelia

(Peggy/Ike, Sadie/Keeper

Karen/Webster, Cathy/Rooster

opted to have a coaching/mentoring

session at Oceanside Harbor)

See Mentoring Groups blog.

How we learn

• Steps
• Clinic Handout
• Stitch's Blog
• class
• each other

The ultimate source and location for all answers

• Sue's writings

Treats

• size
• value
• satiation

Training a handful at a time

• when the treats are gone, the session is over
• re-load
• and begin another short session
• it can be the same behavior or a different one

In the Game

• distractions vs focus

Clicker Fundamentals

• click marks exactly what you want
• reward follows the click
• the click ends the behavior
• the click always pays (it's a contract between you and your dog)

Criteria

• defining criteria BEFORE training

Behaviors: Level 1

• what are the behaviors teaching the dog?
• who does the work?
• cues
• when to add them
• when to drop them
• who controls the click?
• what are the puppies first learning in Level 1?

BEHAVIORS taught to our puppies in class (from scratch:

(from the beginning)

Zen:

• L1/Mallory
• L1/2 Landry
• adding duration
• adding a cue (neutral No)

Leash:

• L2/Step 2/a
• off leash
• Mallory/Landry
• being In the Zone is a good place to be

Touch:

• L1/Mallory, Landry
• Next step (BMO)
• get the dog to take a single step to touch your hand
• 2 steps?
• stretch up to touch
• bend down to touch
• NO CUES used

Down:

• L1/Mallory, Landry
• Luring from a sit
• Getting rid of the lure

GOAL: The dog will volunteer the Down on her/his own.

• When to add the cue
• some dogs are 50X dogs; some dogs are 100X dogs

Adding Duration (DownStay)

• L2/Landry

Sit:

• default Sits
• L1/Mallory, Landry

Sit Stay L2

Adding Duration/Mallory, Landry

• Adding Duration reminded us that when the dog makes a mistake, we begin again from the beginning.
• However, if the dog gets up AFTER the click, that is not a mistake because the click ends the behavior

Crate/L2:

• shaping Landry to Get In
• remaining in crate until released (Let's Go)
• Landry/Mallory
• used both cues

Go to Mat/L2:

• Mallory clicked for going to the mat and getting on the mat
• Landry: going to the mat from multiple directions and distances, getting on the mat, lying down on the mat, adding the cue for Landry only

Retrieve/L2:

• Landry, Mallory
• hands, wooden spoon, dumbell
• re-teaching every time trainer and dog change position
• Sharon/Mallory trained (re-taught) this behavior in 3 different chairs
• Whenever you change anything about a behavior, you make everything else easier.

Ike Sit Challenge

Tommy sit challenge

Sit Challenge 6017-10

Kratos and William: This was Kratos' first puppy class at the Animal hospital, there were so many distractions and he did a great job. William was patient, and Kratos was able to give sits with many of Williams changes in position

Tommy taught us a new way to play the come game ... sit down and run like ... well you know. Check out his sits while he "doodles" close to his Mom on the "right" side.

Ike : Who is enjoying this more ... Ike or his Mom. He has come so far in a short time

Tommy: PETCO April, 2010

Puzzle: PETCO outing 4, 2010

Early Beginnings L2 Stand

The early steps of Level 2 Stand, the goal is to have the dog "back" into the stand, not step forward

Puzzle: Level 1

early progress check of Level 1

Tommy: Level 1

testing early progress on Level 1

L1 Touch

It is so important for the cue (hand presentation) be very clear so as not to confuse the puppy. When asking for a touch with the presentation of the hand ... the hand should be presented, puppy touches, hand is removed while treat given and then represented.

L1 Sit puppies first session 1-7-10

First formal training session. Tommy and Puzzle did well with Gunner's distractive barking.

L1 Zen

Additional "Zen" with the distraction of birds in the background, and switching hands. One trainer is using verbal reinforcement "yes", the second trainer is using a clicker.

Puppies Class 1 - Level 1 Zen

Introducing "zen"

Boon: Safeway Stay 4-2010

Boon: LILY'S BIRTHDAY Party Dress and Behavior

Boon: Leash: Level 2

LEASH: Level 2: Step 3

C/T X50 and Boon can handle walking through a gaggle of geese. (Or is it a flock?)

Boon: Level 3 Surfaces 3/2010

Boon: Pairing DOWN and STAND

Level 2: Stand Stay

Level 3: Down

Level 3: Stand

Level 4: Stand Stay

Boon: Doodling in the snow

Doodling in the presence of other dogs with very little C/T.

Great job, Boon and Sheila!

Boon: Calling out of play practice

Boon: Playtime ZEN

Where can your dog Sit?

Where can your dog Down?

Just LOOK at that self-control!!!

Boon: Level 2: HANDLING

Boon: Level 2: DELIVER

"This behavior specifically brings the dog to your hand when she's off leash, and is the beginning of the dog delivering objects to inert hands in the Retrieve - not everyone can reach to the dog to get an object." Steps: Deliver: Level 2: Discussion

Boon: Level 2: Trick/Trainers Choice

Smart trainer!

(Remember! Sue says that it's all tricks!!)

Sheila's "Chin" behavior is a good beginning to Deliver: Level 2:

Dog targets a palm-up hand in the seated trainer's lap.

For Deliver: Level 2 Boon will need to rest her muzzle in Sheila's open palm

IN HER LAP for 3 seconds. (either hand)

Another Touch behavior.

Another L2 Duration behavior.

Ah! Great minds.........

So. What to do to build this into Deliver?

Drop the cue.

Continue teaching the behavior.

And, when the behavior is ready, substitute the "Touch" cue instead.

Boon: Level 1: On the Road

Sheila is starting early teaching Boon to work with other people.

Boon: Kennel Trick

Learning to backchain.

Boon: Level 2: ZEN

Zen: Level 2: Before Moving On

Adding variations to Floor Zen.

Boon: Shaping Level 2: DISTANCE

This is obviously not the first time that Boon has been shaped to Go Around the box.

When Sheila waits for more, Boon is not sure what to do next, thinks about it, and then offers the behavior again.

NOTE: The cue has not been added yet.

Boon: Before Moving On: Level 1: SIT and DOWN

Note how Sheila uses Target to move Boon around the hearth,

using the behavior in a practical, real life situation.

USING behaviors is their purpose for being!

Puzzle: Level 2: STAND, HANDLING

Luring Stand: Level 2

Luring Stand: Level 2

Adding the clicker to mark the behavior

Handling: Level 2