Flying Poodles

A-frame training and differential rewards

Dancer has been having issues with the A-frame. (If it’s not one thing, it’s another… that’s life with poodles.) The latest issue is “let me stop up here and look around for a while… wow! there are a lot of dogs here.” So I’ve been working on her doing a complete A-frame without pausing at the top. Greta-the-clicker-trainer-who-has-the-barn-time-before-mine suggested that I try differential rewards. For a slow a-frame with a pause but a stop at the bottom, a tiny piece of kibble. For a fast a-frame with no pause and a stop, three or four pieces of steak.

I tried that Monday. Not too long before I had a pause-less A-frame performance. Of course, that’s only one training session, and it’s a training session in the barn with no distractions, too. We’ll see what we get today and then tomorrow with Debbie.