POLITE WALKING w/High Rate of Reinforcement - Part 3 of 3

This video is courtesy of Cyber Dog Online, an 8-week interactive course for teaching your dog to be a well-behaved family member. See our website: http://www.cyberdogonline.com for more information.

PART 3:

Step 9: Pivot, One Step Forward .
The journey of one thousand miles begins with one step. Practice that one step forward many, many times so that the dog, right from the moment you step off, is never ahead of your body. Make your movements fast and snappy, click and get the treat right to the "sweet spot" immediately. Remember, if you can't hold treats in your hand, a food tube of canned dog food works wonders. Be sure to stop to treat!

Step 10: Human Mechanics for Connect the Dots
Connect the Dots is a game from Karen Pryor that starts of with a high rate of reinforcement and lots and lots of "first steps" of walking. The human half of the team needs to have clear, consistent, mechanical skills. Again, practice those without the dog until you have them down pat!

The cones are targets for the human. As you approach a cone, click while you are in motion and stop to treat -- right at the spot where you want the dog's head to be. Be sure to step off quickly -- just before your dog finishes eating his treat. Give your "Let's Go!" cue to let him know it's action time again!

Step 11: Connect the Dots with a High Rate of Reinforcement

Step 12: Connect the Dots -- Start to Decrease the Rate of Reinforcement
Once you are successful with a row of targets (dots), remove 2 or 3 to create bigger spaces. This will cause a drop in the dog's rate of reinforcement. He should be ready for this now!

Due to our desire to finish videoing Jack, we went a bit too far with him in this session. You can see his attention start to wander, his nose drop to the ground, he looks around.

Continue making bigger spaces adding your removed cones to the end of the line. Work in short sessions leaving the dog wanting more.

Step 13: Ready for Real Walking
When you are ready to go "cone-less", check to see that your dog can eat and walk at the same time. Keep up a nice rate of reinforcement when doing training walks and start to lessen the rate by going for more and more steps before you click then treat. Remember to keep your mechanical skills in place -- leash in the right hand held at your navel, treats in your left hand delivered to the right spot.

CREDITS:
Lily, the Poodle Puppy
Jack, the German Shepherd Dog
Trainer: Lynn Martin, KPA CTP
Producer and Director: Helix Fairweather, KPA CTP
Special Thanks To: Sue Ailsby, Shirley Chong, Karen Pryor

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

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• polite walking
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[pamelamarxsen]

I love the cone idea and the stopping to teach the dog to stay at the side and not forge forward. Great way to get in a lot of reps with high rate of reinforcement. Also it is great for increasing criteria by spacing out the cones. A great visual for the dog and handler. :) Thanks for sharing. We need more wonderful +R/Clicker Training videos like this one! :)

[esemman]

Great series of videos that really help.

One question: What do you do if the dog is distracted (I know you should start in a quiet environment) or the dog decides to pull towards a distraction (mine is the cat wandering around)?

What I did was wait for the dog to look back at me and loosen the leash and I clicked and treated and continued from there.

Thank you again for a great video!

[alysiamonet]

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE UPLOAD!! GREAT JOB!

[clickerhappyful]

Wonderful! I see where I have been making mistakes and skipping steps or moving too quickly. Practicing with the cones and no dog is a great idea, as is changing the spacing.

I have some damage to my left elbow and a tendon that is currently making it difficult to deliver reinforcement acurately with my left hand at my side. Any suggestions or would it be a problem to use my right hand across my body while holding the leash in left?

[dawnjoyhill]

This has given me some ideas for todays lesson :)

[musicofnote1]

Awesome, simply awesome!