. . . in the distant, early morning . . .
. . . she awoke, tears still streaming . . .
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Training Milton, fetch as a reward
(Photo taken by Chris)
There is one thing that Milton likes more than food: a good game of fetch.
He and I have three problems we’re overcoming.
1. He doesn’t like to be grabbed, ie: he won’t let me reach out and pet him/take his collar.
2. He doesn’t recall.
3. He has barrier frustration/aggression
Now, what I want is that when the annoying f’ers of yappy dogs living next dog go out and bark for no reason, is to be able to call him in so he’s not out there snapping at my new fence and barking back. I can’t go get him because he won’t let me do that and he doesn’t recall. What does distract him? Fetch.
So today we used fetch to shape two behaviors. It started with one.
First, I throw the ball, he brings it back, I grab it and put it behind my back and wait. At first he simply had to shift toward me, by the end of the day he had to touch my hand with his nose. That earned him a throw or two.
Second, in the middle of this they let their annoying little dogs out. I immediately threw the ball to keep Milton’s attention. Then he brought it back and sat, waiting for the next throw. If he gets bored he’ll go practice his barrier aggression, so I waited. About 10 seconds in he looked at the fence-line and I threw the ball before he had a chance to take a step toward the fence. This variation of “look at that” is hopefully going to help him cope. He was soon looking at the fence so that I’d throw the ball. Never a step toward it.
The neighbors brought their dogs back in and we switched back to touching my hand. Now, it’s kind of confusing to have two behaviors that can get the ball thrown; but he’s a smart dog and I think he can handle this, and proved it a moment later - a look at the fence didn’t get a throw, so he touched my hand and I threw it.
In the mean-time, Elka, Milton, and I are going to work through Really Reliable Recall which I have in DVD format. Milton begins Control Unleashed (CU) training this week (not a class, we’re going it alone at first, as I did successfully with Elka). I just ordered Control Unleashed: Game Demonstration which I am psyched to receive. I think I’ll refresh Elka’s training on CU while Milton and I go through it as well.
Elka has been doing really well on the leash, she still pulls occasionally but I can remind her quite easily so we are able to walk. She had regressed when I got Milton. Milton is an angel on a leash. I just think he doesn’t like pressure on his neck. Walking two dogs can be exciting, yes it can. Especially when a cat shows up! If only my brain was on I would have invoked Look at That (LAT) with Elka rather than letting her nearly dislocate my shoulder. I need more training than she does.
I’m exited to be training Milton and watching him turn into an awesome dog; and Elka’s training has really stuck. My goal is to take Milton through therapy evaluation around a year old, or at least CGC to see if he’s anywhere near close. We’ll see.
And being patient while letting Milton figure out how to make that ball go was a delight. He kept laying down, then sitting up, doing doggy push-ups and offerings all sorts of funny behaviors. But he did finally get it. Now to keep on reinforcing it and raising the criteria. Ultimately my goal is to have Milton basically be right at my legs while he’s waiting for the throw, and accepting petting and collar-grabbing.
Maybe one day I’ll be able to let Milton outside while the neighbors dogs are barking and not worry. Elka totally ignores them and she had started frustrated too as a puppy, hopefully Milton can eventually mimic Elka’s nonchalance.
-Lisa, on June 16, 2010 at 5:34 pm .::. Comment (0)
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