11 months 20 days
2012/01/11
We had a fun session this morning, based on ongoing fear (hers) and frustration (mine).
I thought we had the scary-bucket thing ironed out, but I keep sort of fixing it and then leaving it alone. When I leave it alone, it comes back. And Syn has developed the undesirable response of lying down when she doesn't want to do something (when I've pushed her too far).
She wants treats. I want the bucket. She looks at the treats, she looks at me, she lies down. Thinking back, I rewarded this the first few times by helping her when she lay down - going and touching the bucket, or picking it up and holding the handle for her to make it easier. And it worked to get her to retrieve the bucket. Also worked really well for teaching her to lie down at the first sign of any frustration.
Also we're doing a seminar this weekend and it occurs to me that we have done very little shaping in the last few months.
So I did something HIGHLY unusual - I actually thought about what I was doing.
PROBLEMS: Syn is afraid of the noise her bucket makes when she drops it. She may also be afraid of it moving. She is starting to see the dog dish as a cue to lie down and quit. She's thinking the same about the cue "Are you hungry?". She will sporadically retrieve her #2 bucket, more often when it's on carpet than when it's on tile.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS: work on carpet until she's really comfortable with the noise. Get her to move many more objects. Don't put her in a situation where she'll quit when she sees the bucket. SHUT UP. And do more shaping.
First let me explain that I have 4 sizes of stainless dog bucket. The smallest one (#1) is about half a litre, but has a hook on it to hang it on a crate, so I don't use it for retrieving much. #2 is a "normal" dog bucket, about a litre. #3 is 2 litres. And #4 is a regular-sized bucket, good for watering llamas, carrying placentas to be buried, and washing cars. All have metal handles.
So we started on carpet this morning, with both Syn & Stitch in the room, Stitch on her mat. I found a cardboard box about a foot square, open, and put it about 4 feet away from me. Shaped Syn to go to it. She was pretty tentative at first and it took 2 or 3 minutes to get her to interact with the box. Once she got that, she would stop when she heard the click but not turn back toward me to get the treat. Don't know what that's about. Is she waiting for me to toss the treat? Waiting for it to materialize out of thin air in front of her? Strange. Then she started to continue to work through the click, but listening, so I'd click again and she'd come back for the treat. That went away after another couple of minutes. I was happy to see that she got more assertive as she went along. The first time she moved the box with her paw, she was startled and thought about whether to go back to it, but decided that it was soft enough and quiet enough that it didn't present a danger, so she went back and soon got to flipping it and poking it with her nose as well. Then she shoved it up a stair with her nose and it rolled back down and hit her (oooh, scary, she got hit by a 1 foot square cardboard box! My Little Pansy). I'd clicked for shoving it that hard, but she looked at me, looked at the box, and lay down.
Now, I'm not saying it's a bad thing to have a way for her to indicate that something is too difficult for her. That's fine. The problem is that she's giving up too easily. 1+1=2 2+1=3 3+1=TOO HARD CAN WE WATCH TV NOW? She needs more mental stamina, which a lot more shaping practise will definitely give her.
So when she quit, I put her on the mat and got Stitch out to work. Stitch hit that box like a freight train, poking, bopping, going around, rolling over. She batted it all over the room, wagging her tail and getting clicked. Syn got the odd treat for being on her mat. Pretty soon she was dying to get off the mat, so I put Stitch back on and brought Syn out to work again. Now she was really In The Game, and was soon rolling the box around almost as well as Stitch had been. Then I opened the flaps and she started batting them back and forth. Then a light bulb flashed over her head AHA! She grabbed a flap in her mouth and wrestled the box up the stairs and gave it to me! She got a treat and a big cuddle for that one. I tossed the box back down the step and she did it again. And again. Getting a box up a step is a lot more difficult than getting a bucket to me on a flat floor, but the box is quieter. She was really having a good time hauling that box back and forth, so I tossed out the #1 bucket instead of the box. No, thank you.
OK, back on the mat. Stitch, come and get that bucket. No problem. Aha, says I, let's make some noise!
I tossed the #2 bucket for Stitch, and when it hit the ground, Syn startled and jumped off the mat. I asked her to get back on the mat, rewarded Stitch for getting the bucket, and tossed it again. This time I was ready and rewarded Syn about a quarter second after the bucket hit the carpet and before she could jump off the mat. And rewarded Stitch for the bucket, and tossed it again. And so on for a couple of minutes until Syn was comfortable and starting to look eager to come and play too. I went up the bucket sizes, letting the bigger ones clatter down the steps, and even tossing them onto tile when Syn was looking comfortable.
Stitch back on the mat, Syn comes out. Get the box, yep. Get the #1 bucket, no problem, hey, that was fun! Get the #2 bucket, no problem! Get the #3 bucket, yeah! I can do this!
So I started tossing the #3 bucket around the room, with Syn cheerfully pouncing on it and hauling it back. I went back to the #1 bucket and tossed it on the tiles with no diminished cheer from Syn, then #2, and #3, all cheerfully returned.
She got so into the game that once I tossed the #2 bucket away from me AND SHE CAUGHT IT BY THE HANDLE AS IT WENT BY HER and brought it back to me, almost giggling she was so pleased with herself. A few tosses later it actually bumped her as it went by, which didn't bother her either.
So, a grand session. This evening we'll do it again - again starting from scratch and working up through the box.
I thought we had the scary-bucket thing ironed out, but I keep sort of fixing it and then leaving it alone. When I leave it alone, it comes back. And Syn has developed the undesirable response of lying down when she doesn't want to do something (when I've pushed her too far).
She wants treats. I want the bucket. She looks at the treats, she looks at me, she lies down. Thinking back, I rewarded this the first few times by helping her when she lay down - going and touching the bucket, or picking it up and holding the handle for her to make it easier. And it worked to get her to retrieve the bucket. Also worked really well for teaching her to lie down at the first sign of any frustration.
Also we're doing a seminar this weekend and it occurs to me that we have done very little shaping in the last few months.
So I did something HIGHLY unusual - I actually thought about what I was doing.
PROBLEMS: Syn is afraid of the noise her bucket makes when she drops it. She may also be afraid of it moving. She is starting to see the dog dish as a cue to lie down and quit. She's thinking the same about the cue "Are you hungry?". She will sporadically retrieve her #2 bucket, more often when it's on carpet than when it's on tile.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS: work on carpet until she's really comfortable with the noise. Get her to move many more objects. Don't put her in a situation where she'll quit when she sees the bucket. SHUT UP. And do more shaping.
First let me explain that I have 4 sizes of stainless dog bucket. The smallest one (#1) is about half a litre, but has a hook on it to hang it on a crate, so I don't use it for retrieving much. #2 is a "normal" dog bucket, about a litre. #3 is 2 litres. And #4 is a regular-sized bucket, good for watering llamas, carrying placentas to be buried, and washing cars. All have metal handles.
So we started on carpet this morning, with both Syn & Stitch in the room, Stitch on her mat. I found a cardboard box about a foot square, open, and put it about 4 feet away from me. Shaped Syn to go to it. She was pretty tentative at first and it took 2 or 3 minutes to get her to interact with the box. Once she got that, she would stop when she heard the click but not turn back toward me to get the treat. Don't know what that's about. Is she waiting for me to toss the treat? Waiting for it to materialize out of thin air in front of her? Strange. Then she started to continue to work through the click, but listening, so I'd click again and she'd come back for the treat. That went away after another couple of minutes. I was happy to see that she got more assertive as she went along. The first time she moved the box with her paw, she was startled and thought about whether to go back to it, but decided that it was soft enough and quiet enough that it didn't present a danger, so she went back and soon got to flipping it and poking it with her nose as well. Then she shoved it up a stair with her nose and it rolled back down and hit her (oooh, scary, she got hit by a 1 foot square cardboard box! My Little Pansy). I'd clicked for shoving it that hard, but she looked at me, looked at the box, and lay down.
Now, I'm not saying it's a bad thing to have a way for her to indicate that something is too difficult for her. That's fine. The problem is that she's giving up too easily. 1+1=2 2+1=3 3+1=TOO HARD CAN WE WATCH TV NOW? She needs more mental stamina, which a lot more shaping practise will definitely give her.
So when she quit, I put her on the mat and got Stitch out to work. Stitch hit that box like a freight train, poking, bopping, going around, rolling over. She batted it all over the room, wagging her tail and getting clicked. Syn got the odd treat for being on her mat. Pretty soon she was dying to get off the mat, so I put Stitch back on and brought Syn out to work again. Now she was really In The Game, and was soon rolling the box around almost as well as Stitch had been. Then I opened the flaps and she started batting them back and forth. Then a light bulb flashed over her head AHA! She grabbed a flap in her mouth and wrestled the box up the stairs and gave it to me! She got a treat and a big cuddle for that one. I tossed the box back down the step and she did it again. And again. Getting a box up a step is a lot more difficult than getting a bucket to me on a flat floor, but the box is quieter. She was really having a good time hauling that box back and forth, so I tossed out the #1 bucket instead of the box. No, thank you.
OK, back on the mat. Stitch, come and get that bucket. No problem. Aha, says I, let's make some noise!
I tossed the #2 bucket for Stitch, and when it hit the ground, Syn startled and jumped off the mat. I asked her to get back on the mat, rewarded Stitch for getting the bucket, and tossed it again. This time I was ready and rewarded Syn about a quarter second after the bucket hit the carpet and before she could jump off the mat. And rewarded Stitch for the bucket, and tossed it again. And so on for a couple of minutes until Syn was comfortable and starting to look eager to come and play too. I went up the bucket sizes, letting the bigger ones clatter down the steps, and even tossing them onto tile when Syn was looking comfortable.
Stitch back on the mat, Syn comes out. Get the box, yep. Get the #1 bucket, no problem, hey, that was fun! Get the #2 bucket, no problem! Get the #3 bucket, yeah! I can do this!
So I started tossing the #3 bucket around the room, with Syn cheerfully pouncing on it and hauling it back. I went back to the #1 bucket and tossed it on the tiles with no diminished cheer from Syn, then #2, and #3, all cheerfully returned.
She got so into the game that once I tossed the #2 bucket away from me AND SHE CAUGHT IT BY THE HANDLE AS IT WENT BY HER and brought it back to me, almost giggling she was so pleased with herself. A few tosses later it actually bumped her as it went by, which didn't bother her either.
So, a grand session. This evening we'll do it again - again starting from scratch and working up through the box.