- Location
- Andorra and Spain
I'll make a better video of this at some point, but hopefully this will explain a little better for @Lab_adore. It's not my best effort because it was bloody cold and windy out, and my brain was frozen. I was even using the wrong event marker 
I actually prefer using a clicker for this because the clicker tends to rev the dogs up a bit more, but since Robyn was using a verbal marker, I figured I'd do the same. Even if I chose the wrong one.
So, a bit of a preamble. Squidge used to be pretty lackadaisical about this game, similar to Maxx. But you can see from the very start, she's engaged and ready to work. This is without having done a single bit of training before this point this morning. She's just always wanting to do stuff now, because we do a lot together. I think it's important - and lovely - to have that sort of "default focus".
My first mark was a little late in terms of what I was trying to demonstrate, but you can see she knows this game. We've played it a lot. So it will come with Maxx, too, just keep it easy to start off with.
The first step to the game is just about seeing if the dog will reorient to you, and marking as soon as they make any movement in that direction. This is shaping - marking successive approximations of the behaviour you're after. So to start off with, you can mark as soon as the dog picks up the piece of food and immediately toss another bit on the floor. Make it really easy, so he sees where it lands. This is where I find a clicker a lot easier, because it's so much quicker (for me) to click than it is for me to process the event, and get the word out of my mouth. So quite a few of my marks are a bit late for what I want to be demonstrating. I want to stay at this stage until I see the dog looking up at me as soon as they've picked up the piece of food from the floor, in anticipation of the next. Some dogs will get it quickly, some will take a bit longer.
Once you have that, you can see if they have their thinking head on by asking for some behaviours - really easy behaviours for them. And, as I say in the video, you want to ensure there is minimum latency - that is the time between you giving your cue and the dog starting to perform the behaviour. If your dog is being slower than what is usual for him, then there's something making it difficult for him. If your dog in general has high latency with his behaviours ( a big pause between you giving the cue and him starting the behaviour), that's something you need to work on outside of this. I'm looking for the minimum latency I can expect from my dog to know that they are focussed and not distracted. If I don't have that, I either need to change the environment to get there, or maybe just play this orientation game a bit more.
Then, when I know I have that focus and attentiveness, I can start tossing the food a little farther to the sides and getting a bit more movement in. The video starts to fall down at this point - the difficulty of videoing from your own chest and on a hill! - as the dogs go out of view. But, again, what I'm trying to do is mark the point where they pick up the food and start to turn back to me - which, in the early stages (remember, successive approximations), is simply lifting the head off the floor. Then, when your dog is getting more fluent with lifting their head and starting to turn on your mark, you can delay that mark a tiny bit. With Shadow, what I end up doing is marking at the point he is starting to accelerate towards me - but this isn't something you should be thinking of doing in one session; you're looking for that "aha!" moment in your dog at each stage before you move on to the next one. It might mean, for a particular dog, that you stay dropping food by your feet for three sessions. Just stay there until you get that look in the dog's eye, and the speed in his response, that says he understands the game.
Anyway, that's enough blurb. Here's my rubbish video.
Next time, I'll use a clicker - I find it far better for getting a fast response.
I actually prefer using a clicker for this because the clicker tends to rev the dogs up a bit more, but since Robyn was using a verbal marker, I figured I'd do the same. Even if I chose the wrong one.
So, a bit of a preamble. Squidge used to be pretty lackadaisical about this game, similar to Maxx. But you can see from the very start, she's engaged and ready to work. This is without having done a single bit of training before this point this morning. She's just always wanting to do stuff now, because we do a lot together. I think it's important - and lovely - to have that sort of "default focus".
My first mark was a little late in terms of what I was trying to demonstrate, but you can see she knows this game. We've played it a lot. So it will come with Maxx, too, just keep it easy to start off with.
The first step to the game is just about seeing if the dog will reorient to you, and marking as soon as they make any movement in that direction. This is shaping - marking successive approximations of the behaviour you're after. So to start off with, you can mark as soon as the dog picks up the piece of food and immediately toss another bit on the floor. Make it really easy, so he sees where it lands. This is where I find a clicker a lot easier, because it's so much quicker (for me) to click than it is for me to process the event, and get the word out of my mouth. So quite a few of my marks are a bit late for what I want to be demonstrating. I want to stay at this stage until I see the dog looking up at me as soon as they've picked up the piece of food from the floor, in anticipation of the next. Some dogs will get it quickly, some will take a bit longer.
Once you have that, you can see if they have their thinking head on by asking for some behaviours - really easy behaviours for them. And, as I say in the video, you want to ensure there is minimum latency - that is the time between you giving your cue and the dog starting to perform the behaviour. If your dog is being slower than what is usual for him, then there's something making it difficult for him. If your dog in general has high latency with his behaviours ( a big pause between you giving the cue and him starting the behaviour), that's something you need to work on outside of this. I'm looking for the minimum latency I can expect from my dog to know that they are focussed and not distracted. If I don't have that, I either need to change the environment to get there, or maybe just play this orientation game a bit more.
Then, when I know I have that focus and attentiveness, I can start tossing the food a little farther to the sides and getting a bit more movement in. The video starts to fall down at this point - the difficulty of videoing from your own chest and on a hill! - as the dogs go out of view. But, again, what I'm trying to do is mark the point where they pick up the food and start to turn back to me - which, in the early stages (remember, successive approximations), is simply lifting the head off the floor. Then, when your dog is getting more fluent with lifting their head and starting to turn on your mark, you can delay that mark a tiny bit. With Shadow, what I end up doing is marking at the point he is starting to accelerate towards me - but this isn't something you should be thinking of doing in one session; you're looking for that "aha!" moment in your dog at each stage before you move on to the next one. It might mean, for a particular dog, that you stay dropping food by your feet for three sessions. Just stay there until you get that look in the dog's eye, and the speed in his response, that says he understands the game.
Anyway, that's enough blurb. Here's my rubbish video.
Next time, I'll use a clicker - I find it far better for getting a fast response.
