WHY did I teach him Speak? and other training mistakes.
I admit I saw this one coming. I think it's sooooooo cute when dogs speak on cue, and I also loved the idea of teaching Thor to Whisper.
Well, Thor can Speak on cue, if he's in the mood. He doesn't seem to quite totally get it, and I have held off on trying to teach Whisper until Speak is rock solid. I've also taught him Quiet, which he knows, and obeys if he doesn't think there's something he needs to bark about.
OF COURSE, he has decided that since I treat him for barking sometimes, he might as well try barking other times he wants something, because you never know, right? I had him perfectly trained NOT to bark with pennies in a can, and then I went and ruined it all. If someone unfamiliar goes by, he doesn't go bark wildly, but he lets out an unending series of soft woofs and whines that are clearly designed to drive me mad.
It is of course, all my fault. I am here to atone for some of my other training sins:
* I make commands complex too quickly. I know he needs more repetition than the average dog, but I'm always tempted to tell him to hold it longer, focus harder, and hit his marks more precisely.
* I correct too much (goes in hand with the first point). I'm always thinking about what to do if he fails. He got pretty shaky on "Come" because I was frequently reprimanding him for bad performance. I am not a harsh corrector, but an unhappy human is no match for moldy bread crusts buried in the grass.
* I treat too regularly. I treat for things Thor knows how to do. I have read that one of the hardest things for a person to learn is how to implement a variable treat schedule, AND that the longer you keep a regular schedule in place, the more poorly the dog will react when it becomes variable. Treats should only be used to teach a command the dog is unfamiliar with, or to reward for a difficult task.
* My timing is bad. I don't know if it will ever be good, because I've always had slow reflexes.
In the spirit of positive reinforcement, I'm going to try to list some good things I do:
* I think about training a lot, and adjust my methods if they seem ineffective.
* I enjoy training, and do it regularly.
* I always end on a good note.
* I can read Thor's body language and recognized when he is getting stressed or confused. I still haven't figured out when he's just ignoring me.
Thor and I are working on:
- Accepting a world with skateboards and scooters.
- His name.
- 'Quiet'
- 'Watch Me'
- 'Stand By' (I don't have a specific command, but I want you to stay nearby and pay attention to me)
- 'All Done' (you're free! Go play!)
Well, Thor can Speak on cue, if he's in the mood. He doesn't seem to quite totally get it, and I have held off on trying to teach Whisper until Speak is rock solid. I've also taught him Quiet, which he knows, and obeys if he doesn't think there's something he needs to bark about.
OF COURSE, he has decided that since I treat him for barking sometimes, he might as well try barking other times he wants something, because you never know, right? I had him perfectly trained NOT to bark with pennies in a can, and then I went and ruined it all. If someone unfamiliar goes by, he doesn't go bark wildly, but he lets out an unending series of soft woofs and whines that are clearly designed to drive me mad.
It is of course, all my fault. I am here to atone for some of my other training sins:
* I make commands complex too quickly. I know he needs more repetition than the average dog, but I'm always tempted to tell him to hold it longer, focus harder, and hit his marks more precisely.
* I correct too much (goes in hand with the first point). I'm always thinking about what to do if he fails. He got pretty shaky on "Come" because I was frequently reprimanding him for bad performance. I am not a harsh corrector, but an unhappy human is no match for moldy bread crusts buried in the grass.
* I treat too regularly. I treat for things Thor knows how to do. I have read that one of the hardest things for a person to learn is how to implement a variable treat schedule, AND that the longer you keep a regular schedule in place, the more poorly the dog will react when it becomes variable. Treats should only be used to teach a command the dog is unfamiliar with, or to reward for a difficult task.
* My timing is bad. I don't know if it will ever be good, because I've always had slow reflexes.
In the spirit of positive reinforcement, I'm going to try to list some good things I do:
* I think about training a lot, and adjust my methods if they seem ineffective.
* I enjoy training, and do it regularly.
* I always end on a good note.
* I can read Thor's body language and recognized when he is getting stressed or confused. I still haven't figured out when he's just ignoring me.
Thor and I are working on:
- Accepting a world with skateboards and scooters.
- His name.
- 'Quiet'
- 'Watch Me'
- 'Stand By' (I don't have a specific command, but I want you to stay nearby and pay attention to me)
- 'All Done' (you're free! Go play!)
Comments 1
Total Comments 1
Comments
 |  Sorry to be spamming your blog, but holy crap, it's awesome! You sound like a great trainer (but don't tell anyone I said that on the banning thread). On the speak, I lucked into something I'm pretty happy with. My wife didn't like the idea of him speaking loudly, so I started rewarded quiet barks, like a woof or pre-bark. Now that's pretty much all he does. As a trick, it's still impressive because I just tell people the story about my wife and they get a chuckle out of it. Another thing I'm trying and think it's successful is when I give the speak command, I also open my hand like I'm immitating his mouth opening. He'll do the trick just for the hand motion now. So when he's barking when I don't want him to, I just show him a closed hand and say no bark. I'm still working on it but have seen some positive results. OK, enough spamming for the day. I'll save the rest of your blogs for another day. |
  |
