Wally's Art Lesson 5: Introducing White and More Observations

It's been a while since we worked on colors, and this time, I wanted to introduce another color. I picked white for a couple reasons.


One, to test a theory about contrast, or perhaps the lack of, being an issue in the room. Two, to also see if it was a sound issue between "azul" and "amarillo" that was at the root of the confusion for him.

Another change was a change in objects. I switched to some different colored strips of rabbit skins I had bought for him for a different purpose (trying to teach scent discrimination) but the colors came in handy for this. The thinking here was that texture might have something to do with it. The "flashcards" and the cones have a shiny texture - perhaps reflecting light oddly and interfering with his color vision.

Immediately on starting, Wally seemed to have no problems picking out white (using "blanco" as the cue). This points directly at the contrast issue. The carpet is a sort-of dark gray (I guess you could call it "medium gray") and the white stands out tremendously. The blue was also on his bed, which is lighter colored. He seemed a little better at finding the blue color in this case. Putting it back on the carpet, though, and it was more of a challenge.

The same occurred when I put the colors on my bed. The dark red sheets on the bed probably look just like the carpet, which brings up the same issues with the blue. In fact, he could see the white color so well, he would pick it up when I called "azul" in hopes of being right! He was like "I can SEE this one, isn't it the one you want?"

When I swapped out the blue for the yellow, he could find the yellow better. Another notch in the contrast theory. The yellow stands out much more than the blue in all cases.

This makes me think it's a combination of the lighting (perhaps not strong enough) and the colors in the room as well. I don't think, yet, the sound of the cues ("azul" vs "amarillo") is making the difference at this point. After all, he gets "abres" and "abajo" and "arriba" just fine, even if I use them in ambiguous contexts (like saying "abajo" near a door)

The strips of rabbit skin

The light levels in the pictures attempt to illustrate my thinking with light level impacting our progress. The top picture was taken with no flash, and is a better representation of the light level in the room. The bottom was with flash. The blue especially comes through much better with the higher light level. The other colors seem more rich as well. The shadows also disappeared (granted, the flash was right near the objects so I don't know how well that effect can be reproduced "naturally), and I know shadows are something dogs see well (it's how they detect and track movement so well, they can see the change in the shadowing on an object as it moves).

I could try this in a brighter room, like the living room, where there's more natural light coming in. The natural light could also do more to help his vision (dog eyes might work best only with natural light - could be the UV rays in the color spectrum, etc, that artificial light doesn't really give off.) I would take this outside, but then I think I'll be fighting more than just the colors.

May be on to something, and best thing is that there's hope yet for teaching colors to him!

New Game Idea: Wally vs Me or Competitive Training

I just got this idea in my head and have started to flesh out how I'd go about it and what the competition would be like. But first, I'll explain what I mean.

Competitive Training?

"Competitive Training" is what I call it because Wally and I will be "competing" for a common high-value resource that we both want. Badly.

If he performs the required behavior correctly, he'll get a piece. If he does, he gets to watch me eat what would have been his piece.

But this won't just be with Ye Olde Bread Balls (at least not this time, and he does love them) but this will be what might be his highest-of-the-high value, the penultimate food prize, the true to-die-for morsel he could ever think of...

Lemon cake.

I have some, and I will use it as the bounty.

Oh and we'll keep score, and I'll post it, just like a baseball box score.

Fun With A Practical Side

I love games and think they are a big help to training dogs. These "competitive training" sessions will help him learn the skills that are the subject of the day and also give him more opportunity to practice them in a highly positive emotional context/environment, which seems to help him learn things very quickly. It will also take some of the edge/frustration of getting a no-reward marker and he'll have to control himself enough to understand the situation, listen for the cue, and then think about what the right behavior is.

Doing this will also allow me to mix up the training sessions for him. I can be more animated and dramatic because I'm not as concerned with picking up the behavior as I am making it all this big deal to him. I'll also do this to up the challenge subtly as I'm now being as big a distraction as anything else and revving up his emotions to higher than usual levels. Oh yes, I plan to get him barking and wagging and jumping up.

Plus, if it's easy, what does he learn?

There's also another practical purpose - the days he "loses" or "barely wins" are areas in which we need to work more on during "formal" training sessions. Gaps/weaknesses in what we've done so far will show up, giving me a better picture of where we are.

Rules of the Game

Here's the rules:

1. The only "behavioral rule" will be to stay engaged in the game at all times. This won't be a problem, though, unless something unexpected happens and freaks him out. We'll put the game on "pause" if that happens to let him settle down.
   
   
2. Each day, a new skill will be picked and at least 20 trials will be run through but there could be any number at the high end (realistically, probably about 40 at the most - I only have so much lemon cake and can make the pieces only so small!)
   
   
3. Any known context is applicable and can be called upon.
   
   
4. Only reasonably well-known behaviors/cues will be required. For example, asking him to get his dumbbell from a pile of objects is fair game, asking him to get "azul" instead of the "conejo" is not.
   
   
5. A success gets him a treat, a failure means I eat it instead.

And the preliminary schedule of "events", so to speak:

Day 1 - Abres y Cierras (opening and closing doors)
Day 2 - Arriba y Abajo (going up and down stairs)
Day 3 - Vámonos y Pare (going and stopping)
Day 4 - Pelota y Conejo (determining his ball and rabbit)
Day 5 - Azul y Amarillo (the return of the blue and yellow cards or cones)

If I think of more stuff he'll have fun competing against me with, I'll add them in somewhere and the schedule can change.

Oh, and yes, all the cues will be the Spanish words I've been using.


Hopefully, we'll be able to kick this off tomorrow. Also, I hope Wally wins and beats me badly! That would mean he's learned everything very well and in more than just one situation!

Wally's Art Lesson 4: From Yellow Card to Yellow Cone - Stretching Out "Amarillo"

I decided to try something. I have 13 cones, 12 blue ones, 1 yellow one.

So I wanted to see if Wally could find the yellow cone. However, this will probably be down the road, at least for all twelve of them.

First, I wanted to show him that yellow doesn't just exist on flashcards. I got the yellow cone out and when he naturally touched it, I said "amarillo" and then clicked and treated him. I kept doing this for about twenty times.

Then I moved the cone back at some distance, so that he'd have to go to it and touch it when I said amarillo. I did this about twenty times as well. I gave him a break and we went out for a walk.

Once we came back in, I repeated the above two exercises. Right now, I'm wanting him to get the idea of "amarillo" meaning the color of the object, not just the name of the object. The color will be the one constant. Hopefully, this will help him learn and get the concept down. After doing this, he had dinner and his usual post-dinner nap, and he was sleeping all hard again, maybe processing all of this information and recovering from any brain drain.

Before taking him out for the last time, we did the exercises again. The distances were more varied and started getting a bit farther away. Otherwise, the process and task was the same, go to the cone and touch it with his nose.

I'm planning on this leading into me eventually putting all the cones out, and he'll have to ignore the blue ones to touch the yellow one. I suppose after that, I'll have to scrounge the internet to find a set of yellow cones or some other color so I can do the same with the blue ones.

Wally's Art Lesson 3: First Go At Color Discrimination

Having introduced him to both colors for some days and then let him take a break from colors training, I felt it was as good a time as any to give him a run through with both colors and calling each color out randomly and he has to indicate the color in some way (pawing, nose touches, picking up, etc).

To begin, I refreshed his mind with the colors. I left both flashcards out and then called for just one color. We did this before, so this was a review of sorts and to bring the concept back to the top of his mind. It would also warm him up for the next exercise by getting him used to looking at both colors again and picking out the right one.

As usual, I would change the positions of the flashcards after some repetitions. I'd send him back to his bed for a bit while I switch the cards and get some more treats out. Did this for some sets and then sent him back. At this point, we would start the first testing of his color discrimination.

The cards were set out again, and I'd start calling out the colors. No pattern to them, and I'd go slowly. I gave a few "hints" (a soft 'ah-ah') if he went to the wrong color, and a click and treat if he picked the right color, even if it wasn't on his first try. After a few trials, the "hints" stopped and it was all on him.

At this point, I would simply, re-call the color name if he went to the wrong one. He seemed to pick up on the fact that if he got the click, he picked the right one. If he got the color name again, he was choosing the wrong one. He was getting better at picking the right color on the first try after about a dozen repetitions.

There was still some going to the wrong color (this happened especially with the blue flashcard, perhaps there's something there I should explore), and some of the problem was that he wasn't waiting for the color called out. He would pick the color he just got rewarded for - something else I'll have to think about as well.

It looks like he at least is getting the idea and wasn't bad overall. I think he can get better with this, and, as usual, he'll probably show me any "glitches" in the previous training that I need to iron out as we go forward.

Tomorrow will be the sixth "All-Positive Monday" and I need YOUR help! (is it wrong that I "heard" that in my mind as Dora's voice?) I know one thing I will be doing and that's the picking up. We'll be working on picking up objects. Any other good ideas to try that might could be taught/introduced in an all-positive (meaning only using positive reinforcement) way.

I'm looking forward to hearing some ideas!

"All-Positive Monday" V: Of Colors and Looking at Kids

Today, we worked the colors a lot. The day started with working with yellow and doing some more of the usual show->call->he touches->mark and reward procedure and getting him "into the game" so to speak.

But this time, I also introduced a new scenario using them.

While we are still working on the teaching of the colors, I started introducing both colors to him in the same session. Not so much of discrimination just yet, but alternating which one I show him to get his mind used to thinking about both colors at the same time.

I randomly displayed a color and called out it's name, and he touched it as usual. To keep him from just zoning in on which side the color was on (the cards were in my lap each resting on one of my legs), I would switch them around a few times every so often before showing him a color and calling it. I also changed up how fast the colors displayed so he didn't get into a timing rhythm either. Hopefully, it also made his mind shift gears a bit from waiting to seeing the color, to waiting again, making him focus attention and stay alert since he never knew when I'd show a card.

After a little bit of a break, both to give down time and let his mind process what happened, I went back to one color, but added a new dynamic: distance. I put Wally in a sit-stay and moved some distance away, then showed the color and called the name. He had to come and touch it as normal, but after getting the mark and reward, I moved back more and called the name again. This put a spin on the game while also getting him into the swing of seeing the color/card from a distance and on the move, not just while largely stationary and only a foot away from him. At the end, I even did a couple where I went completely out of his sight. This was something of a challenge for him, but it was a taste of the next level, so to speak.

The other part of the day was playing the "Look At That" game, but only with kids. After seeing still some hesitation and uncertainty around kids, especially ones that tend to run to get to him, I decided to devote the outdoor portions of the day to this. With Spring looking like it is actually here to stay (maybe - never know with April weather!) and Spring Break coming up and the longer days, kids will be out more often when we go walking and some might come to pet him or just the general activity and movement from their play near where we happen to be walking. It will be good to help build his "resolve" around kids some.

I'm also going to have to remember to have treats in my pocket, both for the Look At That game and for letting them offer him the treats. I noticed that the girls (and I say girls all the time because it's ALWAYS been girls) that he's taken treats from before, he seems to warm up to faster, even if they startle him a bit, so that seems to be a winning strategy.

After that it was dinner time and time for him to get some much deserved rest. He had a rather mentally challenging day.

Wally's Art Lesson 2: Amarillo means Yellow

The weather was a bit better (at least it was dry) so we did go out for a long walk and do some retrieving. Then we did a little more training inside and had lunch. 

The highlight for today, though, was starting work on the second of his two colors, yellow, also known as "amarillo" in Spanish. Since this was the introduction, we pretty much duplicated the same process as we did for introducing the blue color. Wally was again eager, after waking up from his nap. He also was thrown off a little because I didn't say "azul" so he was like "okay, what is this and what are we doing?" I think the combination of the interrupted nap and the change up caused him to get off to a slower start.

I also wonder if the yellow card was a little harder for him to see, at least with the lighting in the room.

When we got to the point where I put the card in various places and he has to look around to find it and touch it, he was looking a little more lost than with the blue card. That was interesting to see. Sometimes, he would pass right over it, as if he was looking for something else. I wonder if maybe he was still thinking about the blue card?

He did eventually find it and didn't get discouraged (and I offered no more help than saying "amarillo" again. I did use a different location this time, putting the card on top of the bed. There were a couple other of his toys up there two, and he almost picked up his raindrop squeaky toy, but then corrected himself to get the yellow card instead.

I moved the pace of the training faster than it was with the start of introducing the blue card. I figured that the overall exercise was basically the same and it would help him learn to start to look/search more quickly for the color and also to make a bigger deal out of the whole exercise - putting something of a sense of urgency in the mix.

After the exercise, he went to resume his nap, which he extended for three hours. After that, we went out for our pre-dinner walk. This walk was a looooooong walk as it's time to get back into the swing of longer walks with Spring being here and all - and before the oppressive summer heat that will surely invade in a few months.

Not sure what we'll end up doing tomorrow. I will likely save more work on "amarillo" for All-Positive Monday V. Something will come to us. Usually does - either from just thinking of something, or a "teachable moment" coming up during the day.