Flying Poodles

Wait! Okay! Come! Wait! Sit! Okay! Come!

My five minutes today with Elly was all about keeping the reward rate so high that she didn’t have time to get distracted. There are mice in the barn (at least I assume it’s mice and not some bigger rodent)–always an attractive nuisance as far as Miss Elinor Grubby Paws is concerned.

So I started with two handfuls of treats as soon as I opened the crate door. I made her stay and wait to be released from the crate, and I gave her a treat as soon as she came to me. Then I stopped, asked for a wait, then released, then said come, then rewarded, over and over and over as I walked around the barn. I threw in an occasional sit-down-sit sequence and a few tunnels and two jumps, and I got rid of the last of twenty or so treats right in front of her crate and sent her back into her crate. I didn’t give her time to get distracted. The whole thing probably took about 3 minutes. I did three sessions like that.

In between sessions with Elly, I worked with Dancer. I’m trying to work Dancer at as high an energy level as possible, unlike Elly, whom I’m trying to work in a calm, focused state. I’ve discovered I get one high energy tug session, one high energy ball session, and two medium energy food sessions–although I’m working on increasing the energy of the food sessions.

Debbie had a new way of training discriminations. Set up the dog about ten feet the other side of the choice, then I walked past the choice and faced the dog. Standing very still, I called out “tunnel”. Rewarded only if she chose the tunnel. Boy, was that hard! We got a few correct choices, and we’re going to work on it more next week.