Picking up a basket - how to progress it?

[Oberon]

Over a rainy day or two I started teaching Obi to pick up a picnic basket. I started with free shaping (starting with me putting down the basket and waiting till he looked at the basket and C&Ting for that, then C&T for moving to the basket, then for touching the basket...). We've moved through some uncertainty from him over whether he should be grabbing any old part of the basket. We've got to the point where he will pretty confidently and firmly grab and hold the the top part of the handle of the basket, which is what I wanted.

Now I'd like to have him pick up the basket. I don't think that waiting till he offers this will work because its too much of a leap. I'm thinking that I need to switch to getting him to pick up something much lighter, but that is like a basket handle (kind of like a dummy made of a picnic basket handle), then putting a 'pick up' of this on cue (should be pretty easy since he already know to do that with other objects). Then I'd need some kind of other intermediate step (something in between a handle with no basket and a handle with a basket....) before moving on to the basket. I don't have any of those objects though.

Another option would be for me to hold the basket and get him to grab it while I take the weight. I could gradually transfer the weight to him to get him used to holding it off the ground.

While I am thinking about it I thought I'd ask you lot Please send me your ideas for how to progress this! I have no plans for it....it's just a fun thing to do.

Here's the vid of where we are at now. (sorry about having the camera in the 'portrait' position...will do 'landscape' next time!).

 

[Oberon]

Watching the vid I can see that a couple of times I clicked just as he let go of the handle. I need to click while he is still holding the handle. I need to build up a bit more duration for it and also watch my technique!

 

[Lisa]

Good boy, Obi! I’m actually surprised he doesn’t try to pick it up, though. Do you really think he won’t try to lift it?

 

[Oberon]

I dont think it'll occur to him to lift it. If I wait to click, hoping for that behaviour, he'll either:
- just keep holding it (ok up to a point but a long duration of holding with the basket on the ground isn't what I'm after)
or
- get confused and think I want something else and I'll extinguish the holding behaviour.

I need a way to tell him that the task has become different. Switching to a 'picking up' task with a different (but similar) object is one way to get the idea of that into his mind.

 

[Lisa]

I think the easier option is to hold it and get him to grab it from you, as you suggested. But “take it” is different than “lift it”, so I dunno...hmm...

 

[Jacqui-S]

Do you have a "bring it to me/fetch" command you could try?

 

[snowbunny]

How about shaping a hand target while he’s holding it? Hold and click for looking at your hand, shaping towards touching your hand.

 

[Oberon]

Thanks for the great ideas!

Jac, he does have a fetch cue. That might give him the idea... If I used a basket handle only I’d definitely try that cue. I realised this arvo that I do have a smaller basket so I could switch to working with that.

The hand touch is a good idea too... He does do a hand touch with his nose (with hand held flat above nose). That position would work well with the basket in his mouth, because he lifts his nose up to do the touch. Something I will try with the smaller basket I think!

 

[UncleBob]

What if you show Obi that you are placing one of his favourite treats underneath the basket - would he lift the basket to get at it? Just a thought ...

 

[Charlie]

What about starting with a lighter basket gradually increasing the size/weight of the basket? x

 

[Oberon]

I think if I put treats under the basket he'd just knock it over in the rush to get to them I might be underestimating him of course, haha! He'd probably think to put his nose under the basket rather than grabbing the handle.

The lighter basket would definitely be a good move. I need to make the task easier and a lighter basket will help a lot. That and the hand touch and, if that fails, I will try holding it and transferring weight gradually.