I started experimenting with clicker training articles with Jolee last month. It's been somewhat hit and miss, and it seemed we had reached a plateau. I had been putting three articles out and clicking/treating when she indicated the scented article.She would indicate and maybe push the article around to get the click/treat, but wouldn't put her mouth over it.
Then it occurred to me that I had never worked with her on taking and holding an article. Maybe that's why we weren't making any progress???? So, I took a step back and stopped with the training on identifying the scented article and started working on taking/picking up a single article.
One other thing I did today that was different is I had her sit and watch Jackson pick-up the article a few times. Now, I don't know if dogs can learn from watching other dogs - or was it just a coincidence .... but shortly thereafter, Jolee started picking up the article. The video below is of our session today and it is the first time she has picked the article up. Not sure where we go from here - but it sure is interesting : )
4 comments:
What a good girl! I know some people don't add in the retrieve until really late in the process but I also added it in really early and I think it helped ME as I knew for sure when the dog had made his choice.
I think Jolee is doing fantastic!
Thanks Laura. I was surprised when she brought it to me. I was primarily focusing on clicking when she picked it up. I plan to work on picking up the single article for awhile, but then was wondering if/when we go back to scent discrimination if she will want to just go out and pick up any article to get the click/treat. How did you progress to the scent discrimination in the pile?
That's great! Dogs DO learn from watching other dogs. I always taught my dogs to bring me their bowls after they ate, then they got a treat. When Phoenix was about 5 months old, he started bringing me his bowl w/o ever being told. I hadn't taught him to retrieve yet and am convinced he learned it from watching Connor and Jamie. (If he learned anything else from watching 2 OTCh. dogs, he has yet to show it. LOL)
Good girl indeed!! Love the way she wags her tail and seems so pleased with herself when she finally picked it up! :-)
Hsin-Yi
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