"All-Positive Monday 29" - Back it up, Wally!

Today was a mix of some P.E. for Wally as well as an All-Positive day.

I wanted to revisit his rear-end awareness, something that had gotten lost over the months amidst all the other things that we've been working on.

He already has some idea of how to back up, i.e. walking backwards. To begin, I get him warmed up a bit with just requiring a few steps. I think mark (I use a clicker) and reward him and start again. I try to keep everything as flowing and fast-moving as possible to keep him highly engaged and making it seem more fun.

After the warm-ups and seeing that he still remembers how to do the behavior, I keep each trial lasting longer. I want more steps out of him. As usual, each success is greeted with the reward marker and a treat. At this point, I'm going to start increasing the challenge further in some way.

For today, I wanted to work on speed. He's going to be moving all kinds of ways trying to keep himself going backwards - fine for now. I want to work on just one thing at a time. Using speed should help him get used to moving his back legs more quickly and make him more able to control them.

Marking and rewarding is different as I don't really want to stop the action. As he is moving backwards and keeping pace with me moving forward at him, The rewards are coming, all in stride if at all possible. At the most, a one or two second break so he can chew it if he needs be (which means I need to make them smaller so he can just suck them down without getting choked).

It was funny watching him curve around as his back legs just kept moving him in reverse but no idea how to keep going straight! That's something I'll be having to work on in the future. Another further step would be to have him do so just on cue. I could say "back up!" and he just starts walking backwards.

But those are goals off in the distance and difficult for me to figure how to do in a completely positive way (though shaping figures to be a big part - may not be completely positive, but that's a very large component). Guess I should have called this 'segment' "Mostly-Positive Monday"!

All-Positive Monday 28 - El Zorro (The Fox)

For this Monday, we worked on a new object and a new Spanish word. The object is his fox toy and the word is, "zorro", which means "fox" in Spanish.

However, there seems to be something about this word that Wally does not like at all because he just looks at me like I'm crazy. He won't go to the toy, or if he does, he looks around a bit and sits. This is really, really interesting because it's the first time he's ever had this type of response since he (and I) have started learning some Spanish words. It was as though he was hitting "dislike! dislike!"

I wonder what he is thinking. I wouldn't imagine someone in his past used "zorro" for anything. Perhaps he can't hear the "z" sound? It's certainly the first "z" word I've used, perhaps he's not used to picking it up.

Well, I used "fox" for now, and he didn't mind that word. Crazy dog. Oh, Wally - don't think I've forgotten about "zorro".

With a word he actually "likes", we were able to get some exercises in with the fox toy. We did a lot of playing with it and I'd throw it and say "Get the fox!" (note to self: learn how to say "get the..." in Spanish) and he was all excited and stuff.

I probably said "fox" about 100 times today, I'm tired of hearing it. Don't even want to type it right now! Oh the sacrifices.

Have your fun now, Wally, because soon we'll be doing some three object discrimination.

Once you get over your dislike of "zorro".

"All Positive Monday 27" - Heel position

Been a while for an All-Positive Monday entry, but today I decided to try to build heel position with this approach.

What I did was click and treat (mark and reward) whenever Wally was in heel position. I gave no cues or anything of that nature. When he reached heel, he got the reward, even if he seemed as though he was going to go too far.

Being the food-monger that he is and of course the "click" is burned into his head, he immediately looked up for the treat. After that, he stayed in the position, aligning himself closer and closer each time, and looking up at me in the process.

The key on my end, other than the timing - which is a constant thing to look out for - is delivering the treat in a good spot. I don't want him to hop up, but I also want to make sure he's eating in heel position. In other words, I want him to be where the treat is delivered and that also to be heel position.

This paints the picture fully for him. I believe if I keep this up, he'll get the position down and he will be better able to maintain it on his own. With it being no cues from me and almost a "shaping on the move" exercise, I'm hoping those same shaping-esque principles 'click' (no pun intended) as well.

The eye contact might be a nice little side effect. The concept behind the phrase "feed the position" is that how and where the reward is actually taken and consumed by the dog also imparts information to the dog. The click explains the behavior, the delivery and consumption of the reward explains the location. Judging by past attempts to adhere to this makes it ring true for Wally it seems. Refining front happened with the help of "feed the position". The treat always came directly down and center from me. If he was off to the side or otherwise not aligned, I would not let go of the reward. In fact, it was out of his reach (and he already learned that raising up to get it made it go away completely so he keeps down on the ground).

The first run through shows promise and even after I stopped the training session and released him for some sniff/fun time, he continued walking in heel position. Very promising indeed.

Granted, in the interest of disclosure, Wally is not "completely green" in heeling. We have worked on this in various forms ("keep up"/"slow down" was the first way with heel being the correct spot - we just never "formally" named it "heel" or worked it until later). Still, we are far from masters at it, so this hopefully will continue to help us build the skill.

"All-Positive Monday" 24: Beginnings of Roll Over

Sounds funny, but Wally doesn't know how to do "roll over", perhaps one of the quintessential tricks for every dog. It's not something Wally seemed to enjoy even trying, let alone starting to learn.

Then, not long ago, he started flipping partly over on his own during our daily morning play sessions. He would get all wound up and excited like he always does, and then suddenly, flip! He was on his side. So seeing this, I rewarded it with a treat immediately and started trying to coax it out of him again.

It took a while, but he started to get the idea of what I was trying to lure him to do, and when he did, I gave him a treat. Then I wanted him to get more upside down and on his back so he can get used to the feeling and how to control his body to better perform the flips.

He's getting the hang of it a lot better, and he readily will go on a flip, and even will do so on his own now if I hold out on him, like during shaping.

I do still do the luring-type actions, especially during play to continue encouraging him to work with his body overturned like that. He doesn't mind it at all and is very excited just like all the rest of the time during play! In fact, I can really mess with him and scratch him on the back of his head and he's trying to get me and just having tons of fun.

I have some pictures of the luring part of a play session.

"All-Positive Monday 23" - Day of Games

Today, instead of trying to teach him something new, it was just a day of playing lots of different games with him, and having some fun.

First game as letting him try to "hunt" and "kill" some "prey". I put a treat in my hand and held it closed while moving it around on the floor. He had to find my hand (sometimes I would hide it under something, or use my non-treat hand as a decoy scent by holding the treat in it for just a second) and then he had to "catch" it by putting a paw on it.

I moved my hand around quickly in erratic movements, sometimes freezing for a couple seconds, then start moving again or let him pounce and move at the last instant so he didn't get it. To add to the excitement, I pulled on his paws a little. That really got him going! He really really wanted to get my hand now, and then I'd put it on his back and hold on and he would try to get it off. He even stood on his back legs and put his front paws around my arm! That earned him a treat right there.

I did the same thing, except this time with a piece of rawhide. He's getting the hang of it by now and he's slapping at it with his front paws, making contact more often. When he earned the "kill" he got to chew on it for about 30 seconds.

Next up was some fun with the ball. We did some catching, but also some retrieving and having him look for the ball. To do the last part, I distracted him with his reward for getting the ball, and tossed the ball while he wasn't looking. I'd then say "Pelota! Dónde está pelota?" Getting him to look around for the ball. I didn't point the ball out to him, he had to find it - and when he did, he got a nice batch of treats for his efforts.

Since we were already outside, we revisited the Station-to-Station game we made up for teaching "go around". It's been a while since we last played it, so I was wondering if he remembered - and he did. We had a lot of fun with it. I think he really enjoyed the running too, not often he gets to run.

By this time, it was time for his dinner and a well-deserved nap after all that fun! He didn't want to quit, but with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, he was definitely tiring. He laid himself out and is sleeping soundly as I type.

"All-Positive Monday 22" - Building Desire In Catching And Carrying

With Wally more and more interested in catching things, and getting a bit better at it, I took part of the day to have Wally like the ball even more.

I want him to do anything he can to get the ball in his mouth. To do this, I turned to shaping-type activity.

The behavior I want is him getting the ball in his mouth. Once he did this, he got a reward for it. Nothing happens with any other behavior. Nothing else is good enough, no pawing, poking, pushing the ball, just picking it up.

I went through about a dozen of these and then switched to a more active scenario. I rolled the ball, and he had to go get it, but without me saying so. I want it to be the default behavior. See ball moving...get ball in mouth.

Our prior working on retrieve training interferes with this as he is used to waiting for the cue to go after whatever it is. I want to frame this differently, so he can understand the difference between the two activities. That is something for me to think on.

After doing this, I held the ball in my hand and moved it around. He had to try to grab the ball. Again, all of this in an effort to get him to go into "Must. Get. Ball. In. Mouth." mode. Each time he succeeded, he got a click and a reward. I also kept getting him and keeping him excited the whole time, which had him increasing his efforts.

However, it didn't stop with just the ball. Also on the agenda was developing his "pick up and carry" desire. Since we had been working with getting the ball in his mouth, this would be a good follow up since it's also involving getting objects in his mouth.

This is a little more difficult since he's not as apt to carry a lot of things, but I used the ball again. Instead of catching the ball, he had to pick it up and carry it to me. Success netted him a game with the ball. That would be the reward I used for this set of exercises.

After getting him warmed up with the ball, I used other light household items, like a duster, balled up napkins, stirring spoons, and so on. Hopefully, this could be the precursor to other actions like putting the object in a box and moving him further along in becoming something of a "housework dog".

"All-Positive Monday 21" - Saga of the New Floor

Well, Wally's world got thrown upside down a couple days ago. My mom (Wally's owner) changed her floor drastically, and it confused Wally completely. While he didn't get into full fearful mode, he was noticeably uncertain.

So much of the last few days has been spent getting him comfortable with the floor and showing him that nothing really changed in regards to him.

It also didn't help that she put some rocks along the entrances of the rooms and had me put down a new tile design on the floor. That added to things to get him used to. Fortunately, though, he's come a LONG way from the way he used to be, so this was not nearly as hard as it could have been.

Much of the training was playing lots of games and getting him to eat tidbits of food off the rocks and the bench on the side of the hall. I also wanted to get him to move eagerly along the hall so that he could understand that the floor tiles and such are still easy for him to move on. I think over time he will love the floor, since the more slippery linoleum is gone.

This was a case where "all-positive training" really works. It technically is not under operant conditioning, but more desensitization, part of classical conditioning (think Pavlov's dog).

The work was successful as now he's sniffing the rocks as he goes by, just in case there's some food there! We kept up with the having him walk on just his back paws as usual, and all his usual routines and jobs are still there, though the change in the floor color did create a screwing up with his keeping out of the kitchen behavior.

What happened is that "dividing line" to him was, in part, the change between the white linoleum flooring and the brown tile of the kitchen. Now the floor is brown and it looks too much like the kitchen tile, so it's a bit confusing for him at the moment. We'll have to reteach it, so he can pick up on another landmark.

In all, it wasn't hard, but it was something of a setback and something to deal with a bit.

"All-Positive Monday 20" - First Word: Sit

The beginning of 'reading' for Wally began with using the "Sit" card. I picked this one as it is a behavior that is simple and beyond learned.

This is also makes it a very good exercise for an all-positive session since he is unlikely to get a sit wrong as this stage of things.

We began with showing him the card and when he was looking at it, I cued "sit". There's some refinement to make later because he came up to the card, sniffed/touched it, then sat. I click and treated and will worry about the refinements later on.

This went easily. Click and treat when he sits and use his touching the card to get him to stand up again, so I can cue another sit. Click and treat again and then repeat. I think part of him is trying to figure out what's going on because he's moving somewhat slowly, but not because he's scared. I think the whole situation is confusing him and he might be wondering why he's having to sit.

I think he will get the idea, especially with more repetitions. I hope to get some time to really drill this in his head and fill up his brain with this.

The early returns indicate that he will be able to pick this skill up, and that's all I'm looking for on the first day. It's a very promising sign!

"All-Positive Monday 19" - Reading For Wally?

I got an idea from this post on a dog forum I visit often, and it made me want to see if Wally could get started with this.

I figure that it could be another way to teach object discrimination to him as well, and who knows what other cool things.

First, though, we have to start at the beginning. The first thing to do was make him look at the paper. So, every time he looked at the paper, he got a click and a reward. I kept working on this where he got a click and treat every time he looked at the paper and did nothing else.

Hopefully, this will be both a reward history around being shown a sheet of paper (gets him anticipating doing something for the reward) as well as draw his eyes to the paper instantly and with focus. This is going to take some time in all likelihood since a piece of paper is not going to be the most exciting thing ever.

This is a good thing to work on for an "All-Positive" day, since there's nothing to really correct. If the dog isn't looking at the paper, then just move the paper around to get his attention with the motion. He'll get the point over time. I don't want to rush this step because this is the foundation of the whole skill. It would be like trying to read a book without having enough focus to read the pages or motivated enough to read the book and your mind and eyes start wandering.

With some patience and time, maybe Wally can start 'reading' :)

"All-Positive Monday 18 - Another Fearful Object To Battle"

The boxes I had bought at IKEA along with those stuffed animals to work on object matching with presented another challenge to us.

Not with using the boxes, but just approaching them. He avoided the boxes and was very reluctant to come up to them. He got so scared, he started to shaking again, just like he used to.

Things like this are perfect for an all-positive approach. For any interaction with the box, he got a click and a reward, this time a piece of deli ham. I wanted to give him something that he likely finds more enticing than even his beloved bread balls.

This got him at least looking at the box and stretching his next out towards it. I approached this as a shaping exercise, so no cues from me, just clicks and ham or nothing. I wanted him to approach or give attention to the box on his own. I didn't want him to feel like I was pressuring him or to add any more anxiety to what he was already feeling.

Working on this took a lot of energy out of him, something I remember from working on fear issues before. He needed a break, so I took him out for a leisurely walk (more sniffing and marking than walking) and then he took a nap when we got back in and settled (and cooled off).

This is something we'll have to keep working with so he can get over this as well.

"All-Positive Monday 16" - Canine Creativity?

This was something different. Today, I took Wally out to an open field and just waited for him to do something. When he did, I tried to go with it and see if I couldn't get him to extend it.

He started with his usual, the typical sitting and such that usually gets him rewarded, and I did reward it here as well. After a while, he was like, "hmm....what's up here?"

I pretended to ignore him and he sat next to me. I kept acting like I was looking at something and then he stood up on his back paws. I kept looking in the distance and he waved his paws up and down like "hey, I'm over here!". Turned and clicked and gave him a treat. He kept standing up. I held out for a little while and he started with the paws again. Another reward.

Next, the tail started going. Usually, this is a precursor to his barking (he always "winds up" his tail before he starts barking). It wasn't quite a bark, but he did make some vocalization. That got him another reward.

Then, I went back to "ignoring" him. He sat down for a moment just looking at me. He sort of "gruffed" and started looking around. I suppose he was looking for an object to grab or poke. He went over to the monkey bars (we were near a playground) and pawed the base. I rewarded that. I was hoping he'd act as though he'd climb them, but he didn't.

He came back. He sat, but I had gone back to the pretending again. He lied down. Still nothing. He tapped my foot with his paw. I looked at him and rewarded him. He did it again. Another reward. Again, but this time - nothing. Next, he put both his paws on my foot and barked. That got rewarded.

After that, we had some fun just running around before going back in because we were both getting quite hot.

Next time, I will have to do this near a light pole to see if he incorporates that into the things he offers!

"All-Positive Monday 15" - Dealing With Fireworks

*sigh* It's that time of year again. While I love a good fireworks show as much as anyone, especially on the Fourth like today, it drives Wally mad. This is one of the few real major fears he's got left and every year, it just brings back too many memories.

Fortunately, he's still more stable but today I focused on making him as happy as possible during everything going on.

Basically, what we did is described as the "Look At That" game mentioned in the book Control Unleashed.


Since we where working with fireworks sounds, every time he looked in the direction of the sounds, I clicked and treated him. I definitely made sure to use a very high value treats, in this case some cornbread chunks.


I made sure to use the clicker since he's going to be key on sounds so it would likely "break through" the noise and capture his attention.


One thing this accomplished was get him more focused on me. He started looking at me as we walked, though he was still skittish and had a hard time staying in position because of all the nervous energy inside him.


I started branching out what I would click for, this time clicking for looking at me. I didn't care about position, just if he was focusing on me as that's effort in itself if he's scared/anxious.


Even then, there were still signs that he was too anxious. He didn't want to do much in the way of relieving himself. He did only what he couldn't hold and that was it. That's a clear sign since he usually loves to mark and sniff on walks. His tail stayed low and he was lower to the ground as he moved.


He was also doing behaviors I usually like. This is something he often does when he's anxious, and sometimes I wonder is it because it makes him feel safe ("I'm sitting at his side so I know nothing will happen to me.") or if he is trying to get me to help him feel better ("If I do this, he'll be happy and then something good can happen for me.") It's one of those times I wish I knew what he was thinking.


I also wonder if there's something I can do to further desensitize him to fireworks. Perhaps I can turn to youtube again like I did with dogs. Hmm...

"All-Positive Monday: 13: Object Discrimination, Wally's Choices

For this All-Positive Monday, I did some object discrimination, but this time, I let Wally make the choices.

Really, I didn't do anything except just observe. What would Wally choose when allowed to interact with which ever object he wants. I put out some of his toys and other objects out and rewarded him for touching/picking up any of them.

I did this kind of thing a long time ago where I just said "go get it" and he went to a pile of objects and could get any one he wanted, but for this he'll have some objects all around to choose from.

I'm interested in seeing if there's some kind of indication or preference he might have for certain objects, or what's going through his mind if ALL the objects are "legal", what will he pick, and if there's any sort of pattern to his choices.

I also changed up the objects, leaving the one he seemed to like the most and replacing the others with different things. I went with three objects.

Results

He often picked out his new ball. After that, he picked out the soccer ball the most. So the balls seemed to be his preferred objects this time around. I took the balls away completely and put his dumbbell out, and he went for it exclusively. This choice I can understand because he and I have worked retrieving with it frequently, so the object "suggested" to him what to do, go pick it up. When the balls or the dumbbell weren't there, he choices were much more random, and it became difficult to tell if there was any favorites among them or if there's any kind of pattern.

This tells me to try this again, but without the balls or using the dumbbell. Give him more time with the objects he showed no clear preference for (or against) and see if there's any kind of pattern that emerges. Also, I'll go with three essentially unknown objects (he might have seen them, but they don't have any names or much of any interaction with. I'll also try with the colors again, the blue and yellow cards, and see what he might pick most often.

I'm always interested in seeing how he thinks when left completely up to his own choices (in case you couldn't tell that by now). Hopefully, I'll learn something that can tell me how he thinks/relates to objects, and maybe give some insight on why he makes the mistakes he does during the "real" object discrimination training.

"All-Positive Monday 12" - Letting Wally's Creativity Run Wild

Today for the 12th All-Positive Monday, I brought Wally to an open area and just let him do anything he wanted to get a click and treat. I hesitate to call it any form of shaping because it wasn't towards a final behavior or chain. It was more like "free writing", canine style, where we could "write" about whatever he wanted how ever he wanted. Perhaps it's some kind of game as well - though games usually have some structure or rules.

Any movement action he took earned him a click and treat. If he did a stationary behavior, I would click and treat if he held it for a second or more, showing he was really maintaining it, not just in thought of what he should do next. I also put a pillow out so he could have an object to interact with if he wanted. The objects easily accessible to him:

• A large mirror
• His crate
• A pillow on the floor
• The freezer
• Me (i.e. he can offer behaviors to/at me)
• The black place mat his food and water go on in the morning

The area we worked in. Not pictured is the freezer. I couldn't get it in the shot.

There are also some the objects around that he can't really get to, but he could try to get to them if he wanted. The patio door was open as well, so any sounds he decided to focus on would get clicked and treated also.

It was, basically, just go for it, Wally! Do whatever strikes your fancy. I wanted to see what he would decide to do given no task to work towards or no cues of any kind.

It went well. Wally got into the game after a few clicks and first worked on the pillow. He pushed it around with his nose and then put his front paws on it. After that, he play bowed on it a couple times before going back to pushing it and then going on to something else.

Next, he saw the mirror. He looked at it and then moved to doing some behaviors at me. He did a sit and then moved to a down. From the down, he then put a paw on my foot, then both paws. He stood up again and then looked at the mirror more.

He started getting fascinated by the mirror. The more he looked at the mirror and got clicked and treated for it, he got more curious. I don't know if he knew that was "another dog" he was seeing, but he did start going up and sniffing the mirror, so I wonder.

He also seemed to notice my hand moving in the mirror. I did it once and he turned and looked directly at my hand. I let some time pass and when he got intent on the mirror again, I moved my hand, and he did the same thing. I wonder if he can use the mirror to see what's going on around him...

Another freaky looking thing was his reflection looking at me. Like directly at me. It's like he could line up my eyes using my reflection and would look at my reflection looking at him. This is starting sound like a plot line in Inception, and perhaps I was imagining it in the end...I will have to figure out some kind of ways to try to test and use this...

Sometimes, he would focus on some sounds outside, which also got rewarded. This didn't happen often though (somewhat surprisingly, given how nosy he is). Other times, he would offer things like sitting pretty or using the place mat like we were doing mat training. He even shifted his position while in the downs, which is a behavior, so it got clicked and treated.

In something of a surprise, he was quite tired once he got to settle down. I would have thought with there being no real goal or puzzle for him to figure out, it would have been a pretty light-on-the-brain activity. He had plenty of fun and was dog laughing afterwords, always a sign he had lots of fun, but he was laid out on his side not too long after. Interesting.

"All-Positive Monday" 12: Objects The Shaping Way

As planned, Wally and I worked on the four objects again (circle, square, bone, and ball) but with a new approach. This time, I just let him pick an object to touch, and when he did, I would click and treat him.

After he got going and understood what he was getting rewarded for, I started saying the name of the object, just as he touched it. So if he went to the ball, I'd say "pelota" just as his nose was about to touch it, and when he did touch it, he got the reward.

Hopefully, this will build up the attraction to the objects. I am also hoping he can make the connection easier with this approach. He's hearing the name just as he interacts with the object. Perhaps this let's him make a very direct connection between the two.

Also, going with the shaping approach takes me more out of the picture. This limits the potential for any pointing and touching I might do becoming part of the cue he keys on (though I have an idea for how to use that since he does seem attracted to what I touch). The shaping approach might get it to be just the object and his action on the object, which is what I'm shooting for.

Another benefit I'm hoping to achieve is the removal of frustration or confusion. With this approach, he's always right, and he is learning the name just the same. It is similar to the difference between:

1. "Where's the ball?" And then I tell him if he found the ball or not, which can then lead to try to remember what it's called and getting anxious/frustrated because he's having a hard time.

and

2. Wally going, "What's this called?" and I tell him what's it's called (ex. "hueso" or "cuadrado") and rewarding him for "asking" and touching the object.

Keeping Wally in mindset #2 keeps him upbeat and interested. Keeping him upbeat and interested keeps him in drive and engaged in the process. This also goes along with what he knows about shaping, the way I've approached teaching for the large majority of what he's learned.

The only downside is he can more likely get fixated on one object. While there's nothing, per se, wrong with this - especially at this stage - I do want him to interact with all the objects. So if he gets too fixated on an object, I temporarily remove it, and this gets him going to the other objects.

Today was a big success, and it could be a new way to approach the situation.

"All-Positive Monday 11" - Introduction To The Square, Memorial Day Dinner

Training today was cut short/interrupted by Memorial Day stuff and whatnot, but we did get some time in to introduce the square (cuadrado) - with the square being a white square pillow.

At first, he had a few problems figuring things out, probably because I might have been saying the word the same way as it's a little "tongue twisting" but I did get it down, and it helped him, though I think he was still having some issues figuring out what exactly it was he was supposed to touch. I wonder if this is another color issue.

What started getting some success was standing up the pillow against the bed, maybe a change in the background or perhaps better able for him to see it. What ever the case, I was getting the trademark charging at the object and his usual enthusiasm. We got into a rhythm after that, doing the usual moving it around to make him find it in different places. Again, there was some initial difficulty with this (much like with the circle), but he started looking around for the object and then finding and touching it.

Further work was cut short by the holiday festivities - and one area Wally is still apprehensive is when strangers want to interact with him. With all the scents of the food around, though, he was more "friendly" (mostly curious, if not outright nosy, about the scents/food) so at least he wasn't as uptight as usual. I sneaked him some bits of food to reward him when he did show interest in someone (or their food), hopefully taking some advantage of the situation.

He spent a lot of time sniffing around and looking at me (as if I was going to make them give him food or something!), and he was getting all excited, so I took him out and played around with him and had some fun.

For dinner, he got some shreds of barbecue ribs and some pasta salad. He devoured it in no time and was rubbing around on the floor like he does when he loves his food (or his super happy to get it, like when he's super hungry), and then started sniffing at my food, but being good - he didn't try to get it or anything of that sort, he just sat and stared at me, then lied down and kept staring.

And now, he's already sleep. All the activity of the day must have worn him out!

"All-Positive Monday 10" - Introduction To The Circle, Practicing the Mat

Today on the 10th "All-Positive Monday" (can't believe it's that many), I introduced Wally to the first of the two shapes I'll best seeing if he can identify down the road and we also worked on going to a "mat" (really, a rectangular towel on the floor), something we've done here and there, but haven't done a quite a while.

Also a new reward for him this time, some "veggie straws" that he loves.

The Circle, El Círculo

For the circle, I'm using a round blue pillow right now. The pillow is a decent size and is something he is familiar with and very comfortable with.

Much like with the other objects and the attempts with colors, the first step was teaching him the name of the object and rewarding him for going to it. This time, though, I started him about four or five feet away, hopefully to let him get a better view of things, so to speak. The distance didn't bother him at all and things were going smoothly.

Of course, I didn't want him to just walk a path and remember that, so I moved the pillow when he wasn't looking. I think, already, he was having a clue on what the target was because this totally confused him. It didn't help I put it in a "hidden-in-plain-sight" place, but he looked everywhere. All I did was keep saying "círculo" when it looked he was "stopping to think". He did find it, and after the first four or five go's with that, he started finding it quickly.

Now, something a little unusual happened. I put the pillow on the bed. When I called out the shape, he charged to the bed and jumped up, bit the pillow, and jumped off the bed so forcefully that he nearly made it back to me on the fly! What's up with that?

Wasn't just that one time. Each time, he kept doing it. In fact, if I kept calling for it, he'd keep biting the pillow and trying to carry it back to me. It's too big, though, but it didn't stop him from trying! When I put the pillow out of the room, he started to bark and whine a bit as he looked around until he saw it as he was passing the door and then he went to it. I think it's safe to say he at least has an idea!

Practicing the Mat

This always has him starting by trying to look under the towel since he's thinking I hid some food under it. This isn't a new problem, and I was expecting it. I picked the towel up, put it down, and pointed at it. He got on it and laid down, which got him the reward, which I called him off the "mat" to get (so he could go back on it).

He must have remembered what this was since after a few pokes on the towel, he laid on it consistently and quickly. If his paws weren't on it all the way, I would say "go mat" and he adjusted how he laid on the towel. When all the paws were on it, he got the reward.

I was hoping he'd start to adjust his paws if I delayed the marker a bit, and he did start doing that, but not quite like I'd hope (he most adjusted how he was laying down, not so much his paws on the "mat", but since he was on the "mat" and getting the idea, I gave him the reward anyway. Refining things can come later. I figured he was getting tired at this point, since this is usually when he has his nap (we worked on this after dinner, so he likely would want his "post-dinner nap"). We went a few more times, and ended while he was still eagerly going to the mat.

Another good and fun Monday for us both. He's sleeping happily as I typed this post.

"All-Positive Monday" 9: Fronts, Go-Arounds, And...Scary Food Bowl?!

The ninth "All-Positive Monday" happened, and for the most part it was another success, but there was some..."quirks" in it today. Read on.


Fun With Fronts With Finishes Thrown In


This was something of a game. I would move away from him and entice him to come get me. I walked backwards as fast as I could while he comes trotting up to me to catch me. Then I stop. When he gets up to me, he sits down and then I click and treat him. We keep doing this all over, around corners, up and down stairs. He gets really excited with this and after a while I can't get all that far away from him since he's charging after me or mirroring my movement.

At this point, I just keep taking a couple steps back. He follows, and then I do it again. I click and treat after a few of these and then start backing up more and more times. I can hear him start to do his "dog laugh" and he starts "sitting harder" each time.

When we went outside for a walk, I let him get some running in by putting him in a stay and then going quite a ways from him (one day, I'll have to show a picture since I can't judge distances at all) and called him to front. He charges all hard and then comes to an abrupt stop in a front. I give him a treat and repeat the process. He loves this and it gets him some good sprinting in.

For the finishes, we didn't do anything special, but I attached it at the end of each sequence. This made it something of a precursor to a treat and another round of the activity which then became like a double reward for the behavior, making up, hopefully, for fewer "formal" repetitions with it.


Go Go Go-Arounds...Or At Least We Wanted To

For the go-around (where he goes around the indicated object) we played the station-to-station game. Or at least what we could of it. Back when we first played it, the weather was still kind of cool and the days a little on the short side, so there was some time we could go out and have the playground basically to ourselves. Now, with the weather warm and the days longer, kids are out all over the place (and I swear they are all girls, and little ones at that, which we just get no escape from). This was the first "quirk" that got in our way.

With all this activity, there's just no way to get the game in as there would be too many distractions and all they need to see is a dog they thing is sooooo cute and want to pet all the time running around the playground to get their attention. I swear, little kids have their own version of "prey drive"!

Anyway, for what we could get in, we did have some fun playing the game again. Wally remembered the go-around easily and loved the game just as much. I hated to cut it short, and Wally was still all fully of energy and jumping and bouncing around trying to get me to start the game again.


Really? Running From Your Food?

This really, really has me stumped right now. I mean, seriously, he is suddenly running from his food bowl and gets scared when he's laying beside it in what was his usual "CAN I HAZ IT NOW?" place where he waits for me to "allow" him to eat.

In fact, when I give the go ahead (literally, I say "go ahead!"), he goes to open the door and runs down the other end of the hall. Or to the laundry room (go figure that one too). What's equally odd is that if I put the food in a white bowl (one of my bowls) he'll eat it up. And then, as if it wasn't odd enough, this only happens during dinner. Breakfast, he just eats it right up.

Well, he's going to have to eat from the food bowl. So this part of the "All-Positive Monday" was devote to desensitizing him...to his own food bowl. Fortunately, it didn't take much to get him to get up (since he was hungry) and start to come over to sniff my fingers (I had some of the food on them). When he licked the food, I praised him. He kept doing it until he took the food off my fingers, which got him more praise.

Then I used a bit of targeting to get him to put his head in the bowl, praising every movement to the food. He was still a bit hesitant, but with some more encouraging and started to lick/nibble at the food. This earned him more praise and he then started actually eating, which got him more praise and I went away. I noticed that once he started eating, he devoured his food like normal, even licking the ball clean.

I don't get it. He still loves the food, he's very hungry, and once he eats, he's all normal (and looking at me like "Look! I ate my dinner!"). If any one has an explanation for this, I'm all ears. Right now, this has me completely baffled. I mean, when I put treats in the bowl to test and said "go ahead!" he chomped them down (this was before dinner) so it's just when it's his food in the bowl.

I don't know. It's one of those times I wish I could read his mind to know why he's suddenly doing this.


Even with the scary food bowl business, it was a good day and another success.

"All-Positive Monday 8" - Serving Up A Main Course Of Stop And Go With A Sprinkling Of Objects

We devoted much of today towards drilling "pare" in his head - meaning "stop". And we went about it taking one step at a time.

While at the same time, "vámonos" (let's go) was formally worked on as the "let's move" cue. I figured this would be good synergy in training.

To start this off, I first began with "vámonos" to get him moving as he was sitting on the porch. As soon as he stood up and began moving, he got marked and rewarded. Then I cued "pare" and gave the hand signal, and once he stopped, he got another mark and reward.

This alternation between "vámonos" and "pare" literally went step-by-step. The frequency of rewards and the completely different "walk" we were on totally captured his interest. He didn't know what kind of game this was, but he wanted to keep playing and win his prizes (this time, a left over failure of what was supposed to be a belgium waffle).

With the continued reinforcement, Wally was eagerly going into the movements, making it harder for him to stop promptly on "pare". Seeing this, I slowed down the whole process in terms of calling out the cues. Adding in this twist also added in a little work on controlling his excitement. He couldn't start shooting forward on "vámonos" because the "pare" would be coming right behind.

Once he was getting the "pare" down nicely ("vámonos" was no problem for him!), I stopped using the hand signal. Once I did that, he had only listening to tell him when to stop. Harder, as expected, but he didn't do all that badly with it.

From there, we went to more random "pare" cuing. At first the stops came kind of late (but once he did, he still got rewarded), but he must have got in the back of his mind that I'll call for a stop at any time, making him stop more promptly. All the while, he kept getting excited and was watching me intently.

Each walk we went on today went like this, giving plenty of chances for him to see what the two cues mean. The walk before dinner went without treats, as it I didn't want to spoil his appetite, earning him verbal praise and some hearty pats on the side. He got just as excited, maybe because he thought that was the invite to a game. While this wasn't a game, it did give me an idea for one to play with him sometime.


Don't Forget Your Rabbit And Ball

After his dinner and post-dinner name, but before going to bed, I had him work some more with the rabbit and ball, mostly a run through of what "conejo" and "pelota" are, his rabbit and ball, respectively.

Nothing really fancy, mostly the same beginning lessons as before. Mostly it was a review of what the objects are called, but there was more distance between him and the object to get him used to looking in the distance for the object and going to it from farther away.

No real problems here, but there shouldn't have been! Still, this must have been some challenge for him as he promptly went to sleep right after we were done. I mean he went straight to the "dead dog" position!

Maybe it was harder than it looked, or perhaps he made it look easy because he still had to really, really focus and concentrate to remember what the object looked like. I was surprised to say the least to see him that worn out, as if I had taught something completely new.

I had thought maybe it was just the time of day, his body winding down, but he was very active and alert during the actual exercise. Go figure!

Muy bien, Wally. Another good Monday for us both!

"All-Positive Monday" VIII: Work That Rear, Wally!

We had a lot of fun doing the as-planned rear-end awareness and some work on catching/eye-paw coordination games.

Back it up, Wally!

Most of the time was used on the rear-end awareness as it's slower paced and more challenging for him at the same time. At first, we worked on backing up and I had him backing up back and forth along the hallway. We went just a couple steps at a time at first, trying to emphasize keeping the rear straight. I noticed that if I held something over his head (like the treat), it was easier for him to get the idea or keeping his form right.

Once I was doing that, we were able to start moving a bit faster and, more importantly, getting more steps in at a time. At this point, I tried getting him to turn backwards by angling how I "walk into him" to get him to back up (he's right in front of me). This is a work in progress for sure, but it was interesting to try it.

Hit The Book, Or At Least Step On It

Then we moved to the paws-on-the-book exercise and it was every bit the challenge as expected. Going to the right is "easier" for him as he moves much easier shifting around the right. When trying to do the same thing for the left, he is much stiffer and it's almost like he has to think about how to actually move himself to make the movement, or he thinks he can't (or perhaps actually does not know how to) make the movement and tries something else - in this case, either coming off the book or putting his back paws on the book and sitting down with all four paws crammed on the book.

I suppose this means he's "right-pawed" or somehow is just more comfortable turning/moving towards the right than the left. Something I might have to explore...

Get Up On Those Back Paws, Please!

After that, I had him stand on his back paws and walk beside me. Again, I had a treat to help him get the idea on where to focus and to help him with his form for best balance. This was harder, but he was doing it. We started with just a few steps at a slow pace, and it seems like we'll be needing to work with this more, but he was getting the hang of it.

I then moved the treat around and he had to keep following it while standing on his back paws still. I moved the treat somewhat quickly and in random directions with sudden direction changes. This, he was better at for some reason (I would have thought it would be harder), and he loved this. At this point, he was getting more excited as well.

Lastly on the stand-on-back-paws list, I had him try to just balance and stay perfectly still. This exercise got him whining with excitement as we wanted to move, but instead the tail went crazy wagging as he tried to stay still. He had to remain motionless, like holding the pose, for a few seconds before he got the reward.

Brief Work On Catching

After a little break to let him rest a bit, we started on the catching. For this, I used some "heavier" pasta shapes (corkscrews) so they could fly on a more steady path. At first, he had a hard time tracking it, but then he started trying to grab it. His "bangs" got in the way a couple times, obscuring his vision. He did start catching more of them from a short distance and I knelt down to his level. We didn't get to work on too much with this, but we'll continue to work on it later on. He certainly wasn't bored, though!

Slap Me Some Paw, Dog!

Later on in the evening, we got a chance to work on the eye-paw coordination. As expected, he LOVED this! I would egg him on with "Get it! Get it!" and "nipping" him with my fingers to really get him going. He jumped down in to his play bow and was intently following my hand around, sometimes trying to pounce and other times slapping the floor with how hard he was doing it.

When he got one of those slaps on my fist, he got the prize. This also helped him to understand what would work. At first he was trying to stick his nose in to pry my fist open, or sometimes grabbing my wrist in his mouth to try to hold it (which was surprising!), but he starting figuring out that only stopping my fist with his paws would get me to give up the goods.

In all, yet another great "All-Positive Monday"!