Taking the next step

I need to jot down these thoughts before I lose them in the swarm of organic chemistry reactions I'm currently trying to memorize for tomorrow's test.. /grin/

First, the sit - Keiko can perform it 8/10 times with a verbal command but I have found two flaws in it which I need to fix. The first and most simple is that she doesn't hold it sometimes; she'll immediately go into offering the down (which I have marked for but have not put a command to yet) if I don't reward quickly enough. So now I will mark for her HOLDING the sit after being told to do so. It will go like this.. "Sit... (pause one second, two seconds) Yes!" and reward. We will work our way up to five, then ten, but will start at two seconds.

The second thing about the sit is that I need to put a signal to it. A little backwards, I know, but since I have made her sit before going in/out of every door since the very first day I got her, she's heard enough repetitions of the word "sit" to know what it means without receiving a signal first.

Second, the down - she offers this readily in our training sessions. I need to do a few sessions where I select only for the down. Then I will put a signal to it, then a command. I imagine this should be complete (not with distractions) within the next couple of days. I need to be careful how I select for this. I would like for her to do an obedience style down (all four legs facing forward, not with her hips flopped over to one side) but am not sure if I want to teach that yet. I could have an alternate command (platz - german for down) but it may be confusing to allow her to do the more leisurely down now and then try to select for the more correct down (platz) later. I need to ponder on that before I start marking for it.

I also need to decide exactly what I want my hand signals to be. Never have I given this much thought to what hand signals I want to use for various commands...that's proof that newfound freedom goes to people's heads. Haha!

Training aside, a figured a little update on Keiko was due. I'm not sure how much she weighs but I estimate her being between 20 and 25 lbs now. I'd like to get her height measured as well. E seems to think she's small, but she is supposed to be at the smaller end of the standard so I imagine she's on track. I'll have to ask her about it tomorrow. She's also earned more "big girl responsibilities" and gets to sleep in her "big girl crate" (her 36" wire crate) now. :) I had no choice but to put her in the wire crate after she got sick last week (I was not about to clean out her plastic crate at 5:45 AM after she threw up in it) and she was well behaved so she has been sleeping and staying in it ever since.

She also gets more free time in the house. I used to confine her to the kitchen while I was there, but now I leave her 15' lead on with her collar and let her roam. I gave her a knuckle bone which she happily took into the living room and gnawed on while I made my dinner. I was able to keep an eye on her over the bar counter. She behaved well so she also stayed out while I ate and she left me completely alone. :) I was very proud of her today!

We went home for July 4th and she also got more free time there, including some of the time loose in my room there (no leash, no collar even). It's fun to see her mature but I'm also already missing the little red puppy she came to me as.

We went to a NADAC agility trial in town today and that went great. She was very alert when we went in (in case you've never been to an agility trial - they're very loud between the radio playing, the people there, and the dogs barking) but settled quickly and then just wanted attention from everyone. It reminded me that we need to work on not jumping on people, which needs to be done by that person telling her to sit before giving her any excited or happy attention...which is a real problem because everyone sees her and goes "ohh!! Hey there cutie!" which is enough to send her butt a'wigglin'. We'll have to be sure to take a few extra trips to PetSmart this next month or so as well as out to some of the kids sports games over the summer so we can work on all of this.

Another positive note, I think we're getting closer to the point where I can actually bring her to search & rescue practice. I'm about 90% sure that I'm going to go ahead and actually make the commitment to the team, thus submitting my taskbook for review. I really like the idea of it and think both I and Keiko are cut out for it. I just need to make sure that I can make the time commitment to the team. I also want to be sure that my mind will be in it as well. The good thing is that the team would rather have someone be honest and tell them they can't handle the load anymore than have someone keep showing up to practice but their heart and mind not really be there.

Wow, I rambled much more than I was expecting to! I really should get some sleep. I'll have more updates later this week though.

The Hand Touch

So now that the mark is charged, the real fun begins. I feel like a kid in a candy shop with the opportunities I've got to begin laying the foundation for Keiko as a working dog. As of the past 24 hours, I've been marking for "go to bed" (her wire crate) and "go in your kennel" (her plastic crate where she is actually kept when I can't supervise). It made going in the kennel more pleasant, as over the past couple of days she'd decided she no longer wanted to go in there on command. She wanted to go in her bed instead (I don't shut the door on her in that one yet lol). So I've been marking for the kennel and have seen an immediate difference. What I like about marker training is that I can use a food reward, but I can also use anything she wants as a reward! For example if it's dinner time, she is hungry and she wants to eat. I want her to go in her kennel so I can feed her. So I tell her "go in your kennel" (she knows what this command means) and when she does, I mark "yes!" and place her food down for her to eat. There are other everyday applications but I started this post to talk about teaching Keiko the hand touch so the rest of my everyday applications will have to wait for a later post.

I began teaching the hand touch today. I believe I said I was going to start with the down but of course since that's how I planned it, things went differently. Normally you have to break the hand touch down into a small series of steps (dog looks at it, steps towards it, sniffs it, touches it) but Keiko immediately touched my hand when I stuck it out so I marked it. She quickly caught onto this touching game. I have done two small sessions of hand touch with her. In the second, she'd layed down. When I put my hand out for her to touch it, she stretched her neck out to touch it. I marked. We did this three times, then I told her to go to her kennel and marked that. It seems that she is catching on to the hand touch game. So my training plan has changed a bit. [Note: I will try and get a picture of the hand touch uploaded sometime in the next couple of weeks. We're due for some pictures but it'll be another week before I see my photographer :D (my sister, lol)]

1. Continue marking and rewarding the hand touch at close range.

2. When Keiko can do this reliably 8/10 times, move the hand further away so that she must take 1-2 steps to reach the hand. (The distance to be moved away will be judged in training, depending on what she demonstrates she's ready for)

3. Put the command "hand touch" on the action.

4. When she can reliably perform the hand touch after being commanded to do so, wait until she is across the room, command the hand touch, and present the hand as a target.

Of course these steps could change at any given point in time as I learn more and as I actually work with Keiko. You can put lots of things on paper but no one thing works for every dog and it's best to see what works best for your dog in a situation and work from there. Anyway, I'm really enjoying my puppy. :) Times were a bit frustrating there for a while but I'm finally coming to the realization that this puppy is actually mine and I am the only person in charge of what I do with her and when. It's a neat realization and has allowed me to relax a little and just enjoy her. I also came to the realization that I'm not going to do everything perfect and that's OK! I think that is the biggest, most important issue I have come to terms with and is also what has allowed me to make less mistakes. Imagine that! /giggle/

Marker Training

Wow, a lot has happened in the long while since I posted last. I got serious about marker training and have introduced Keiko to the pool. I will save the pool experience for a future post.

I am proud to say that the mark has officially been charged! Keiko confirmed this for me today after a long walk on campus. I was in my room and wandering about, waiting for her to lose interest in me. When she did, I said "yes" and her head snapped in my direction looking for her treat! To be sure this concept is clear, I will probably charge the mark in the living room in two short sessions before her breakfast and dinner tomorrow and again outside the following day. For the time being, any new behaviors taught will be done in my room. Currently I am marking her entrance to the kennel. Previously I was just praising for going into the crate which was working well. I will transition it to marker training...simply because I can, lol. Once I am sure that she understands the command "go in your kennel" then I will wean off of the mark and onto pure praise with the occasional reward - such as getting to come right back out or getting a tasty treat or a special toy (i.e. her peanut butter filled kong).

To charge the mark in marker (also known as clicker) training, you must give your mark and immediately follow with a high value reward. Many people have heard of clicker training, which is a form of marker training in which a clicker is used to mark a desired behavior. For a number of reasons which I will discuss in a later post, I prefer to use a verbal marker. Specifically - the word "yes!". The point of this training method is to teach the dog that whatever they were doing when you gave their mark was correct and their reward is coming. The theory is that this style of training makes up for the 2-3 second delay that may come in rewarding a dog for a desired behavior (say, for example, you're doing a down-stay at a distance.)

When I originally started charging the mark, I would say "yes", pause, and then reward. During the pause, Keiko was sometimes able to sit or down. (Both commands which I had previously taught her) I decided after a few days of this that I didn't think this was the response I was looking for. I did a bit of problem solving and consulted the Leerburg forums and decided that the pause I was giving between the yes and the reward was too long. So I went back to square one. To charge the mark I held an even number of treats in both hands, gave the mark and then immediately gave the reward. Now that Keiko looks at me expecting a treat when she hears the word "yes", I will probably give a couple of seconds pause between the yes and the reward so that she knows that it may take a second, but the reward is coming. After a brief session of this, I will move on to actually using the mark to train new behaviors. Once I apply this to training new behaviors, there will be NO MORE charging the mark! Unless I decide to add an additional mark (i.e. the word "good" or using the clicker).

I also watched a video by a dog trainer that reminded me of why I was previously opposed to the idea of marker (specifically clicker) training. That I may discuss at another time or add an amendment to this post which explains why. While at first I was a bit confused as to what I wanted to do, I'm glad that I watched the video because it reminded me of my purpose for using MT and the direction I wanted to go with it - the idea is to use MT to teach the new behaviors, then to phase the food reward out save for on random occasion. At this point in time, I also prefer to us MT to train commands which don't come naturally to the dog - i.e. tricks and behaviors required for working dog (specifically SAR at this point in time) training. I also want to use it to train a few games that you can play with a dog that is marker trained. I previously was not going to use it to train behaviors such as sit, down, etc. but I may try it on the down and see how I feel about it.

I need to get some pictures of Keiko in the pool. I've attached a photo at the bottom of this post which isn't great, but it is recent - I snapped it on my iPhone two days ago. I hope to post more often but between class, work, and puppy I can't always find time to blog.

Have a great night!