Thursday, March 3, 2011

Click To Calm

Question: What do you get when you take a lab puppy already predisposed to calm behavior and then condition him to as many new circumstances/things/animals as possible?

Answer: Eli!

Peggy and Beth, you asked for it - here is Eli's very first face to face with Tofu the pig

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Two for the price of one

Just for fun, yesterday I decided to add a modifier to cue Dexter and Eli that they are BOTH to respond to a requested behavior.

I chose a behavior under very good stimulus control-"touch"  (you will also see some "downs" with a TINY bit of duration)

I began by cuing each dog separately, then added the modifier "boys" and re-set my target to include both dogs.

It is far from fluent and is obviously not under stimulus control and my timing and lack of a solid training plan makes me cringe, but here is the video I made after three short training sessions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPadP562VsQ

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Bigger, Stronger, Longer

No, that’s not the title of a new porn or even a slogan on a Viagra ad, but it is the “take it to the next level” test for a behavior still newly learned.

 In this case, Level Two Step 4. I had put off testing this only because I was too lazy to set the stage. I wanted to record the event. I chose hiding under a bed, so this meant waiting until Eli was occupied downstairs with someone there to film the event, start to finish, in one take. Then, I had to actually get UNDER a bed-something I have not done in a very long time!

I did give Eli more than one cue but I don't think I violated the spirit of the test-he managed to find me me, quite willingly, as you will see:

Level Two Step Four BSL

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Long Time No Blog

Where has the time gone?!

Looks like I have not posted a video or blog of Mr. Eli in a while. Eli is a dream to train-he makes me look like an amazing training goddess, but just look at Dexter and you will see that I have an Achilles heel and I am certainly a mortal.

I really like training two dogs at once, and adding distractions (like an evil cat). Of course, we train in baby steps (in fact, I just wrote a blog on this very subject on my personal blog: http://thedexterdiaries.blogspot.com/)

Without further ado, here is a video made this afternoon. I call it "Floor Zen With Two Dogs". Here is a link or go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB5L4IsJavc&feature=feedu

Enjoy!