Object Discrimination 6 - Ball (Pelota) and Star (Estrella)

Getting back into the groove with object discrimination and it's a review process for now, assuming he still remembered anything from when we tried this last. Of course, I don't have all the old objects (though he still has the bone) - so that brings up a new object I bought for him, his fuzzy star-shaped toy.

He loves that toy, so that's always a plus. For the ball, I'm using one of the balls we were using to practice catching with.

I put the ball and star on the ground and said "pelota". Of course, he had no idea so I kept saying it, ready to give him a click and treat when he touched the ball. He eventually touched the ball and got the reward. I kept doing it, and he went consistently straight to the ball and we were getting into a rhythm.

Then I moved the ball and the star and tried it again. Didn't go so well. He went to the star again, but after not rewarding that, he looked around for something else to touch/grab. He didn't appear to see the ball, or perhaps he didn't think he was supposed to get it.

So I picked the star up and cued "pelota" again. He still was at something of a loss, but then eventually touched the ball for the reward. After repeating it with just the ball done a few times to get him going to the ball directly, I put the star back down. He looked at the star but went away from it to touch the ball. Good.

Did a few of those and then gave him a little break before introducing "estrella", the star. Having been going away from the star, it was harder to now get him to go TO the star. So I picked it up for a few seconds, then put the star down while saying "estrella". He went up to the star and that got him rewarded. I said "estrella" again and he went back to the star.

I didn't put the ball back in, but played a game of fetch with the star, but said "estrella" as he went after it and brought it back. I rewarded when he brought it back to me. Did that for about ten minutes then called it a session.

At least we got some progress going and maybe it will "re-activate" that info in his brain. Of course, if he forgot it all - well, we are still on the right foot...er...paw.

Object Immersion 2: Fielding Groundballs With Pelota

Another day of object immersion, this time with the ball. Still in an effort to teach him the names of these objects and still using Spanish for the cues.

The usual grabbing and giving took place and making getting the object part of his "work day", but the highlight was the outdoor play, since it wasn't as oppressively hot today.

The game was a spin off from retrieving with a little controlled excitement taking place. I made sure to get him wound up and excited about the ball and in general and would "throw" the ball along the ground, making it roll and sometimes bounce and saying "Pelota!" to get him to go after it. I used the object name instead of "go get it" to make it part of the object immersion.

This was a lot of fun for him, and I think he could feel it's been a while since he got to bounce and run like that. As the game went on, he started play growling and getting really intense, especially when I "attacked" him with the ball and pulled on his hair a bit. Each time he came back, he jumped against me, getting pretty high off the ground, and was more than ready for the next throw.

At that point, I had him lie down and wait. I'd then give him another "ground ball" and called out "Pelota!" and he took off after it. Of course, one time, he got distracted and he didn't see where it went. I kept saying "Pelota!" as he looked around for the ball. When he found it, I made a big deal of it and got him charging back to me, and then we'd do it all over again.

Once I saw his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth, I figured it was time to stop as he was getting fatigued and it was still a pretty hot day out. We went back inside, and, once he got back to my room, he immediately went for his water bowl and lied down on his blue carpet. Once he cooled off, he took a bit of a nap before dinner.

A nice rousing day for him, and a chance to burn up some physical energy for once!

More Object Matching and Naming

Today, we worked more with matching objects.

I used two pairs - the white bears and the blue dogs. At first, I showed the blue dog and threw the other on the bed when he wasn't looking along with the bear. I still have to move the object around to get him to keep looking at it.

I whipped it away and had him go find the match. I made some changes as well in terms of rewarding him. I didn't use the clicker this time, but instead I used a "good boy!" which got him charging back to me with the object. Then I gave him a treat, and tossed the object while he was getting it.

I think using my voice sort of helped him out. Even if it didn't help him remember, it kept his spirits up, which is always a plus in training - especially for hard skills like this.

I also worked him on learning the names of objects. I used the ball ("pelota") and the bone ("hueso") this time.

At this point, I noticed he seemed reluctant to pick up the object. I don't know why, but this is something that I hope doesn't continue.

Just a little testing him on the objects this time, but basically just some review as it were. There wasn't much done with this as he was really worn out from the matching. Still, though, he got into it. When I did "test" it a bit, he was pretty good with getting the correct object, even when I switched.

And, after it all, he was tired and went to sleep - after sniffing out the crumbs from the treats of course!

Object Discrimination 5: First Attempt At Three Objects

Tonight, I upped it to three objects. All three objects where down, including a new one, "perro" a little stuff dog. This was different in lots of areas and would present a challenge to Wally.

At first, I introduced him to "perro". I pointed to "perro" and when he touched the little stuffed dog, I clicked and rewarded him. I repeated this multiple times and then put out two other objects, his first new ball (still using "pelota") and the same bone as before, the soft, big one.

Once done, I called for "perro" again. He did go to the dog toy again, but then again, it was in the same spot and the same object he was rewarded for, so it follows that it would be his first choice. I called for "hueso" next, his bone. Now that confused him. In fact, the bone was a hard object for him to find! I don't understand why that was, but he just was at a loss to find it.

He did eventually find the bone somewhat consistently, and then I threw in "pelota". Another bit of confusion and he went back to the bone a lot. The ball was just sitting there, in plain view and he wouldn't turn around to find it. I think what happened was that his usual search pattern kicked in. Too bad for him, the ball was in the opposite direction!

Wally did get the ball, and now it was time to have him looking for an object at random. He was challenged, at times he seemed to want to give up, but I wouldn't let that happen. I don't know if I was pushing his limits, but with encouragement, my constant calling out the object, and the rewards I used (the new treats I got at the last trip to Petco) kept him going and he did find the object I called out for.

After that, I gave him a two minute break. I stroked him slowly and gently while he sat in front of me and just let him have a little time to recover and unwind.

Then I tried to add 'dónde está?' so I would say 'dónde está perro?', for example, and he had to at least go to the proper object, the dog toy in this case. Once I did this, he got the object a couple times and brought it to me, but I think it was too much. Also 'dónde está?' is the "find it" cue so that might have entered his mind. A positive (at least in my view it's positive!) sign is that when I said 'dónde está?', he was ready to look, but waited for me to stay the object name. He may have been waiting for the object name to know what to go looking for - something for me to watch going forward.

I switched to "go get _____ " and that helped him. For now, I think I'll stick with that, at least for these exercises.

We had been working for about 30 minutes, so I ended the session, let him jump up on me and let him unwind and process things (he's currently sleeping next to me).

Blend of Object Immersion and Discrimination

Not sure what "catchy" title to call this. It's not just object discrimination or object immersion, but today we did some of both, with also giving him his first all-Spanish "sentence": 'Donde está ____ ?' which sends him looking around for the object in the blank.


Where's That Bone?

Since the bone, 'hueso', is the object we've spent the most time with, that was the first object. I pulled out his big soccer ball (not his new ball) and put that in the floor. I tossed the bone a little past the ball, so he'd have to cross the ball's path to get to the bone.

As I thought, he would try for the ball a lot. After some simple "nope" whenever he would even try to interact with the ball he started looking around. He found the bone and that got rewarded heartily (with homemade cinnamon banana bread).

Now that he's all hyped up because there's now a super reward attached to this, he kept going for the ball again! This was likely excitement combined with the fact that in the past we've worked only one object at a time - so the concept I might be wanting something else has a hard time sinking in so far.

But, once he got some more "nope" from me, he started looking for that bone. I kept calling "hueso! hueso!" and he kept looking around. After some successes with the bone in one spot, I tossed it somewhere else, again so he doesn't just get used to going to that spot.

He got into the groove and I hid the bone behind my back and kept calling "hueso!". I wanted to see if he could recognize the bone wasn't there at all. I wanted confusion because that means he's looking for the object, can't find it, and he's looking around and "asking" for help. Once I saw that and he wasn't looking at me, I'd hold the bone out. Once he turned around and saw it, he came running up to it, and I rewarded him.

Then that's when I threw in "Donde está hueso?". He already knows "Donde está?" as his cue to find it. So hearing that question will already put him in the "find it, find it!" mode. This time, I specified "it", the bone - hueso.

He looked around, and a few times wanted to go for the ball, but didn't! He pulled away and kept looking around (the bone was on the bed, not hidden, but not in plain sight). Initially, he was confused, still looking around the floor, but got a thought to try the bed. He jumped up and found the bone, brought it back, and got his reward.

Did this for about 10 minutes or so, and then switched objects.


Now, where's the ball?

For this trial, the soccer ball was replaced by his new ball (this would be the target) and I put down one of his favorite toys and another random object as the decoys.

To help his mind change gears, I did a quick touch exercise with the ball (pelota). I said "pelota" with the ball right there near him, so it was easy for him to touch it. What's interesting is the first few times, he was tentative - as if he knew that before he wasn't supposed to get the ball! That was interesting to watch.

Once he was touching the ball eagerly. I tossed it up on the bed (while he was getting the reward so he couldn't see it) and called "Donde está pelota?" He looked around and didn't see the ball. He went for his favorite toy, drawing a "nope" from me. He brought it to me anyway, and I just took from him and tossed it back and called for the ball again.

After a little more searching, he found the ball and retrieved it. He didn't try to bring back the other objects too often, which was good to see. A few times he went for his toy, but that was it.


Observing His Search Pattern

While he looked for the objects, I watched his searching. Often, he searches the same area repeatedly before thinking to move to a new area. It seems he's also broken down the room into three parts: the area with the bed, the area around his favorite corner (with the TV as well), and the area between the two. I'm not certain why he searches the same area multiple times - perhaps he thinks it will appear or show up and he doesn't want to miss it.

Of course, once he finds the object in an area, he will go back there the next time, usually as the first place he looks. He did go look in the "TV part" of the room a few times, but not particularly often (mostly when looking for the ball - wonder why).

Perhaps that could be the next thing down the line, trying to improve the efficiency of his searching. That sounds like a real big challenge!

Object Discrimination 4: Introducing Circle and Square Together

Today, we worked on the circle and square together for the first time. There wasn't any "testing" of the concept yet, just getting him to start seeing a difference between the two and that they have their own names and that each name relates to just that one object.

Much like in earlier lessons, the objects were pointed at while I said the name, in this case either "circulo" or "cuadrado". I also made sure to say the words very distinctly, sort of trying to give him a hint along the way and hopefully to get him to listen to the sound instead of just being so eager to run off and touch something.

I do think he's getting the hang of things relatively well with these shapes. When working just one shape at a time, he started to look for the shape so he's getting the idea of what each one looks at, it's just the names we need to drill more. It doesn't help work has been a pain lately, cutting into our training time.

With next week's "All-Positive Monday" I might work with all four of the objects, "hueso" (bone), "pelota" (ball), "circulo" (circle) and "cuadrado" (square). This would be the first time more than two objects have been presented to him, so I'll move slowly and try to make it as clear as possible for him.

Hopefully, this weekend, I'll have a chance to review the two shapes and the other two objects. I've also considered making "flash cards" for these as well, like with the colors. Or perhaps even cut out shapes, that way he's looking at the actual shape instead of the shape on a card. The question there is - can I make it big enough, but if he can see a piece of kibble or a treat, he should be able to see cut out shapes.

First, though, is getting him more confident in the problem at hand. I can't get too far ahead of myself!

Object Discrimination 3: The Ball, The Bone, And A Small Change I Made.

El hueso - the bone, object #3

After some time away, we're back to the object discrimination. Sometimes, it's good to have him take some time off from a skill or behavior and then come back to it. He can struggle with something, but even though we don't work on it, he sorts things out and comes back doing better.

First, Let's Revisit the Ball "la pelota"

Before introducing the bone, we worked on the ball (the rabbit is going to be "dropped" for the moment, will explain below). He seemed to get "pelota" very well before, and this time he was picking it up after a few initial attempts to target the new object (I wonder if this means he understands that the object is "new" and is assuming the cue I'm saying belongs to the new thing I put down? Hmm....), he was able to find the ball and target it repeatedly. After some runs with that, I switched positions to keep him from getting to used to the ball being there (i.e. "pelota" would mean go to this spot because the ball is always there - he'd be picking up on the wrong cues from the environment).

When I switched the objects, he sure enough went to the "old" place the ball was. Even then, though, he started catching on to looking for the ball itself. In fact, he looked "lost" because he didn't know where the ball was and it wasn't in the old spot. He did find the ball (it was in the bone's "old" spot) and targeted it forcefully. I could see him thinking, as if he was sorting out conflicting information. He was like, "That looks like 'pelota', but it was over there, but the 'pelota' isn't over there..."

From there, I moved both objects again with the ball on my bed and put the bone to where he would have to pass by it to get to the bed where the ball was. He looked at the bone, but never targeted it. In fact, a few times, he self-corrected and then went to the ball. Seems like he's getting more and more of an idea of what "pelota" looks like. After a few self-corrections, he ignored the bone each time with ease, going straight for the ball. When the ball fell on the floor, he still went right to it.

With each change, I sped up the pace of the exercise. This got him even more into it and more into a back and forth rhythm, which might help him. 


Here is a New Object, Wally

Next, I had him get on his bed and put the ball and bone nearby. I then said "hueso" to represent the bone. Predictably, he went to the ball. When no click came, he started looking around and saw me holding up the bone. He touched it, earning him a click and reward.

I did some more "hueso" and threw in some "pelota" as well. Now that the bone was "in play" he touched it once or twice when I said "pelota", but he quickly went back to the ball. I alternated randomly between the two, sometimes indicating the same object multiple times. This didn't cause any problems! "Hueso" caused him to look around for the bone, while "pelota" had him all but attack his ball. Like before, I sped things up once he looked like he was getting the hang of the two and he kept up well, making no mistakes.  

A Slight Change I Made

Once little thing I did that seemed to make things go much smoother.

I waited until he stopped panting.

Okay, I know that sounds weird, but hear me out. When Wally's excited and eager, often times he starts panting. Nothing unusual there, panting can be a way a dog expresses being relaxed, happy, and eager. When a dog that is panting stops panting and closes his mouth, he's focused in on something. It represents a shift in his mind and is going from "OMG I AM SO HAPPY! GOGOGOGOGO" to "Hmm...what's up?" or "This is interesting...I wonder what's going to happen?", especially if he's otherwise still alert and relaxed. Wally often perks his ears completely forward as well or waves them back and forth, another sign of him seeking information.

When I got this expression, I then gave the next cue. So far, it seems doing this will have him much more aware of what I just cued, instead of just "I HEAR SOUND! GO DO WHAT I DID BEFORE!" I also noticed that when he came back to get his reward and then focus attention on me, I was getting the alert, closed-mouth, ears forward alert look. I wonder if I've come across something to make our communications more effective.


Why "el conejo" is Taking a Break

 The rabbit, "el conejo" is not "in play" for the moment because I'm testing a theory. He seems to have a real hard time with the rabbit. There's a few reasons that popped in my head:

-"hard c" or "k" sounds at the start of cues are hard for him to hear. When I think back, he struggled with "come" but got recall immediately with "here".

-The color is hard to see in my room for whatever reason. I don't know if the brown is too close to the surrounding colors in the room by his vision.

-It's too small for his ability right now. This kind of plays into the thought above, but maybe it's too small for him right now.

Early returns on the success of "hueso" seem to bear out at least one of these. The bone is white(ish) and red, and while red isn't a color dogs see well (or at all), perhaps the "two tone" nature of the object makes it easy for his vision to find. The bone is bigger and has a larger "footprint" on the floor. I know dogs often detect objects by shape/silhouette as much as by color or detail, especially at a distance. Perhaps the "footprint" of the bone is easier for him to pick up as well.

This might also explain why he does well with the ball. It's the biggest object of the three, it's round - maybe a shape he can easily distinguish from the environment as there's not many round things here (never noticed that until now...), it's a soccer ball so white and black - high contrast colors, and it pretty much looks the same from any angle, helping him find it from various orientations.

Not sure if these thoughts have legs, but early returns make it something I'll keep in mind and observe going forward.

From Learning the Ball To First Spanish Struggle

Today was a mixed bag day. First, we got the chance to introduce the ball. Then after that, we worked on converting another cue to a Spanish word, which for the first time might be something of a struggle.


Yeah, Same Thing As Pushing, Wally.

Here is the ball, the pelota, in question:

La pelota, object number 2

With this ball, he quickly caught on to the idea that he was to touch the ball. He was equating it with the pushing stuff we've done during exposing him to the basics of treibball, which got him quickly into the mindset of poking the ball with hose nose forcefully.

This enthusiasm allowed me to just focus on saying the cue "pelota" and having him wait to make sure the connection is being formed between the cue and the behavior. Since progress was so fast, we didn't need to move so methodically as we did with the rabbit and not nearly as slowly as with the colors. How great! Immediately, we could go with distance and he looked around readily for the ball no matter where it was.

The only reason we had to stop was because I had to go get another piece of bread! I'm glad I chose to use the soccer ball (and this size of ball) after seeing these results. Hopefully, when it's time to add in the rabbit, this kind of progress will manifest itself again!


Say It Isn't So! Our First Spanish Fail?

Perhaps we were due. Perhaps it was working too well and the Dog Training Fates said "enough of this, time to make them have a set back!" and threw this monkey wrench in. Perhaps I wasn't saying the word consistently enough, but...I doubt I've been particularly consistent as it is, plus...it's not a hard word to say.

"Pares" a form of the verb "Parar" which means "to stop". As you probably can guess, this is the new "wait/stay" cue. While trying to think of why suddenly the struggle here as opposed to the other successes, some thoughts came into my head:

1. This is an "old" behavior, perhaps 'stay' is too established in his mind
2. Going in line with #1, perhaps I've forgotten how I 'explained' the behavior to him
3. The sound of the word itself is too difficult for him to pick up
4. We have just one cue that starts with a "P" sound, perhaps he's not used to hearing it
5. The stay/wait wasn't as strong as I thought to begin with, so this just exposed it

I recently read about the "stay into a moving stand", and, thanks to a post on a forum I'm on, I got a lead/tip on a hand signal she used to do it. I can't find the freaking post so I can link to it. I know who wrote it and I'm looking on the right forum. Ugh. Anyway...trying that route seems to be working a bit.

With him walking beside me, I give the hand signal and say "pares" and if he stops, he gets a click and treat. At this point, I'm also stopping since that often triggers him to do the same. Everything to try to get the association going and make a connection.

Success has been hit or miss and so far getting him to wait or stay in any other way while using "Pares" has not worked particularly well so far. Hmm...it's too bad I can't fully remember how I first did "stay" with him so that I could try that. No way we're giving up, though. I know it's just a matter of getting those first few breakthroughs and then we'll hit the ground running from there.

Object Discrimination 1: Rabbit vs Ball

I figure it's time to start doing some "real" object discrimination again. I've done it some time back, and then tried it here or there, but probably going too fast or not using things he can really see. They last time I really did this semi-formally, it was trying to have to tell the difference between a picture of Dora and Kai-lan, two kids characters he seems to like.

That didn't go well, and then I started working on his bone and ball, and didn't really go that into it for some reason.

And of course, keeping with the Spanish theme, I looked up the words for ball and rabbit in Spanish and will be using them as the cue. In case you're mildly interested, rabbit = el conejo and ball = la pelota. I'm debating between including the "el" and "la" for purposes of a cue. It adds a syllable and there's going to be lots of "el"s and "la"s if I keep teaching objects, so I don't think it adds any information for him.

The two objects are of vastly different shape, size, and color. This helps keep it easy for him to see a distinct difference in their appearance. Both of these objects are very familiar to him (they are some of his toys).

The only other question is what size of ball to use. I could use the BIG exercise ball, his soccer ball, a smaller ball than that, or his tiny soccer ball. The tiny ball might be TOO small. Hmm...perhaps this might be something to experiment with. All of the balls are different size from the rabbit, so there's one less thing to worry with.

I think he'll end up enjoying this as much as the colors, and it will be interesting to see if he doesn't pick this up faster since it's a physical object instead of something somewhat abstract like a color.