Coaching: Country Boy / City Girl

Cathy and I got together for a One on One coaching session, where we worked together coaching each other.  We settled ourselves in my front yard with all of its inherent "every day" real life distractions:

• Ace, the black and white cat
• Patrick, the orange cat
• 2 Corgis and a small, white fluffy neighbor dogs
• 3 more neighbor dogs across the street
• traffic
• neighbor doing yard work
• big juicy berries on the sidewalk from the neighboring tree

We began the session with Communication: Level 2: Steps 2, 3, 4 (all splits) and then Focus: Level 2: Steps 1, 2.  During work on these 2 behaviors Ace and Patrick were parading past, hiding under nearby cars....so all this also included Cat Zen.

We also worked on Change and Place, unFlipped, while in front of the house.  Rooster has a solid Change, but I am having trouble teaching Change to Lily without a verbal cue (as Beth wants) so Cathy was an invaluable coach.

Then we went inside and worked on Relax with all three dogs, Come (we played Hide n Seek).  This was especially fun for Rooster, since he is not familiar w/my house.  We ended the session introducing Rooster to Lily's Paw Touch Fun Board.  Cathy took it home with her.

(2009)

Coaching: Focus Level 2

"The purpose of training is to build a team of dog and human.

The underlying principle of teamwork is attention to and awareness of the rest of the team."

Keep an eye on the sidewalk behind Cathy!

Step 1: Dog finds your eyes.

We wanted to give Rooster a very clear explanation of what we were after.  So with the clicker in one hand, treats in the other, and all sorts of life distractions vying for Rooster's attention, Cathy clicked and rewarded whenever Rooster found her eyes.

Here the environment was more interesting to Rooster than "playing" with Cathy.....until she brought out the cheese.  Cathy had never "explained" Watch to Rooster before with the clicker in one hand and the treats obviously held in the other.  She wraps her leash securely around her hand....Patrick was under the car!

It took us a while, but we finally achieved success when we followed Step 1:  "If you have a medium-to-large dog, sit down - on the floor or in a chair to bring your face closer to your dogs eyes."

Despite the enticing smells, Cathy's treats and the proximity to her eyes wins and Rooster is able to overcome distractions and give her 2 seconds of eye lock.  (Step 2)

Adding Duration:  Steps 2, 3

Patrick the orange cat is in the vicinity, so Cathy wraps the leash securely around her hand....just in case!

When you get up to 5 seconds, you can put the cue Watch on the behaviour as she's doing it.

COMEAFTER: Step 3: Get another person to re-teach the entire behaviour to your dog.

And when we get to Step 4 we change our position in relation to the dog - dog beside us.
Still lots of work to do!

Coaching: Communication Level 2

"There are no voice cues for most of these behaviours.  Respect for personal space must be a very strong default.  The cue for backing up is Back Up."

Step 2: (Review)  Dog moves out of your personal space.


COMEAFTER: When she moves out of your way no matter what object you're walking toward, try it with NO object.

Step 3: The dog moves out of your personal space to your left.


Step 3: a, b, c, d, e

COMEAFTER:  ....Anytime you find her in front of you, move into her and reward her for getting out of your way to your left.

Both dogs already know Step 4 and Cathy and I use it all the time.




Step 5: The dog untangles a leash from around her front leg.

Cathy had already taught Step 5 to Rooster, so she coached us through all the splits.


Step 5: a, b, c

Step 5: d, e

Step 5: a, b, c

Step 5: d, e

Sue coaches a video

We've spent the last 2 months coaching each other and discovered the value of having a coach to watch and to comment as we train.

Here Sue is coaching just the first 2 minutes of this loooong video.  This is a great example of "Don't add the cue until the dog is volunteering the exact behavior you want."  Even better (below) is the detail of what Sue sees and shares.

Response to the first cue at :11 was good.  It took him a moment to GET down, but he STARTED to go down as soon as he heard the cue.

Response to the second cue at :30 was not good.  The six seconds it took him to down involved 3 steps, a sit, a good long think, and a slide.  I don't call ANY of those things "down".

The third one at :46 was faster - 3 seconds - still a slow response - but involved 3 steps forward before the down.  Again, not a correct response.

The fourth one at 1:08 was a bit faster but still involved taking 2 steps before the down.  Not correct.

I don't see these things as incorrect responses to the cue  I see them as not knowing the cue means the behaviour of lying down.  If you're willing to define your down cue as "take 3 steps in any direction, sit, think about what I said, then slide slowly into a down", then hey, you've got it!

But if I had a dog who was responding like this, you couldn't pay me to use a cue until she understood what I wanted.

Now let's talk about what you wrote on the screen at the beginning of the clip.

The click ends the behaviour.  The click ends the behaviour.  This is a very basic principle of clicker training.  When you have clicked, the dog has ALREADY done what you want him to do.  He can move or not move, as he wants to.

When I'm working on lying down, I toss the treat far enough away to get the dog up so he can offer me another down.

When I'm working on STAYING down, I toss the treat between his paws or give it to him, but if I've clicked, he can get up if he wants to.

Note that LYING down and STAYING down are two entirely different behaviours and should be worked separately.

Sue.eh

Coaching Session: Threshold Awarenes

TALKING STORY

(Volume 2, p 485)

"Stitch has been plagued with airport demons all her life"