Day 6
Well, I was home all day today, so had no excuse for not practicing our game. We have completed 2 training sessions so far today, and will get one more in before bed. We also went on a nice walk to the river today with Archer and West. During our first session she did quite well with the first turn of 4, getting them into the basket faster than she has yet. She also has mostly stopped picking them up once they are in, but still grabs the ones that end up hanging from the edges. I don’t click for anything but floor grabs, but she gets more of the dangling ones into the basket than back on the floor. I’ve also started using a hand target to help explain the movement toward the basket. It looks like this: Gyp picks up sock in mouth and holds it (usually until I click). I hold hand out over basket away from her. She moves toward the hand, still holding the sock. I click as soon as her head is moving toward the center of the basket. She releases the sock. >80 percent of the socks are dropped into the basket. Once she did her first set of 4, I tossed the socks off to the right of the basket. To date I’ve been tossing them to the left or straight in front. Wow! Poor girl! She kept dropping the socks to the right of the basket. Had no idea how to get them there from that side. I kept at it, and she finally managed to get them all in there. I expect her head was hurting after all that! Our next session was much smoother. I did mess up and click a couple of times when she had done nothing that I wanted, but she was ok with it, as she got her treat anyway! I kept the socks to the front of the basket, maybe just slightly right of center, and she was much quicker to get them in. Still using the hand target with some success. Timing is everything with it though. If I put my hand out too quickly she just tries to target without the sock. She also thinks that the target is a lure, and is looking for the treat I must have dropped into the basket when she finds my hand empty. Interesting that, as we rarely use lures anymore. We did another quick set of 8 socks, with little to note. One of my mis-clicks was for a sock she grabbed off the handle of the basket and dropped into the basket. I forgot my "no clicks for socks not on the floor rule" out of excitement for such a tidy little puppy! Oops! It worked out ok, as she didn't immediately go for a basket sock. She is also not going for the sock that went in right before her "jackpots" as well. I do still jackpot for a sock that goes nicely into the basket on one attempt. Well, off to do our last session of the day. Might come back and blog about it later, or might add it into tomorrow if I am too lazy.
Well, I was home all day today, so had no excuse for not practicing our game. We have completed 2 training sessions so far today, and will get one more in before bed. We also went on a nice walk to the river today with Archer and West. During our first session she did quite well with the first turn of 4, getting them into the basket faster than she has yet. She also has mostly stopped picking them up once they are in, but still grabs the ones that end up hanging from the edges. I don’t click for anything but floor grabs, but she gets more of the dangling ones into the basket than back on the floor. I’ve also started using a hand target to help explain the movement toward the basket. It looks like this: Gyp picks up sock in mouth and holds it (usually until I click). I hold hand out over basket away from her. She moves toward the hand, still holding the sock. I click as soon as her head is moving toward the center of the basket. She releases the sock. >80 percent of the socks are dropped into the basket. Once she did her first set of 4, I tossed the socks off to the right of the basket. To date I’ve been tossing them to the left or straight in front. Wow! Poor girl! She kept dropping the socks to the right of the basket. Had no idea how to get them there from that side. I kept at it, and she finally managed to get them all in there. I expect her head was hurting after all that! Our next session was much smoother. I did mess up and click a couple of times when she had done nothing that I wanted, but she was ok with it, as she got her treat anyway! I kept the socks to the front of the basket, maybe just slightly right of center, and she was much quicker to get them in. Still using the hand target with some success. Timing is everything with it though. If I put my hand out too quickly she just tries to target without the sock. She also thinks that the target is a lure, and is looking for the treat I must have dropped into the basket when she finds my hand empty. Interesting that, as we rarely use lures anymore. We did another quick set of 8 socks, with little to note. One of my mis-clicks was for a sock she grabbed off the handle of the basket and dropped into the basket. I forgot my "no clicks for socks not on the floor rule" out of excitement for such a tidy little puppy! Oops! It worked out ok, as she didn't immediately go for a basket sock. She is also not going for the sock that went in right before her "jackpots" as well. I do still jackpot for a sock that goes nicely into the basket on one attempt. Well, off to do our last session of the day. Might come back and blog about it later, or might add it into tomorrow if I am too lazy.
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