Tycho - shaping a bow

The project: shape something for Tycho to do with his own body.

I chose to shape a bow. We've worked on this in the past, but not systematically...and thus it's never become good enough to put on cue. This is my attempt to be a little more structured, and finally train that bow!

CLIP "COMMENTARY"
1 - Head bob = click. The first three head bobs were accompanied by a crouch (criterion for session 2), but I stuck with my original criterion and my last two clicks were for the head bob alone.

2 - Crouch = click. The first crouch wasn't much, but I'll usually click at least once for the previous session's criterion...even if the break in between has been just 30 seconds.

3 - Elbows to ground = click. Tycho is dancing his back feet around because my latest shaping project is teaching him to lift and/or kick his back legs. It has a lot of reinforcement at this point, and it's practically become a default behavior if I'm not specifically cueing something else. Had I not stopped him with the touch and then the "target" cue he would have continued to offer it. The first click was a "freebie" to get him thinking about his front end and the second was the criterion from the previous session. I mis-clicked when his elbows didn't actually touch the floor at :55.

4 - Elbows to ground = click. I missed a click at 1:07, at which point Tycho made it clear that he didn't know what in the heck I wanted. Once he offered the spin and his "sleepy" trick, I knew I had to go back and click anything that was remotely close to a bow. I lucked out and actually got "elbows to ground" at 1:21, but I would have taken anything at that point and worked my way back up. I hadn't planned to allow so many unclicked behaviors; my delay was due to thinking madly, trying to figure out how to get back on track. However, Tycho is a dog that has enough reinforcement history to allow for a run like this and I wasn't worried that he would shut down (though he was clearly annoyed!).

5 - Elbows and chin to ground = click. Tycho became very "grabby" in this session and I had to change my treat delivery a bit. The click at 2:07 was somewhat of a mistake, as I was watching Tycho's chin more than his elbows.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• dog
• clicker
• training
• shaping
• Border
• Terrier

[JediKarolyNovh]

@finnbjerke - Thank you!

[finnbjerke]

very nice