Sandi gave a great suggestion....to include Call in a series of cue discrimination exercises....as one of several cues. Kathleen calls cue discrimination exercises "pop quizzes". So, from time to time throughout the day (whenever I happen to think about it) we do some rapid fire cue discrimination pop quizzes.
I train "by the handful". I get a handful of kibble and train until they are gone...usually no more than 12 - 15 kibble. Tonight we included the following cues: Sit, Down, Brace, Back, Go Lie Down, Call, Tuck, Come Front, Side and Roll. We did two quick sessions. Dinner for my girls is in an hour, so Lily was hungry (truth be told, Lily is always hungry!)
Then, too, I try to train the complete Emergency Call Box behavior at least a couple of times a day.
Lily is doing much better passing the Call Box when asked to Close the (front) Door. Closing the front door has become another of her regular jobs.
And we have added the stepladder in front of the real light switch. Because that is a change (and a big one) we have gone back to shaping the behavior.
"Whenever you change something about a behavior, make everything else easier".
I was up at 1AM so, when I realized that sleep was going to elude me, we trained....in the dark. Hmmm. A totally different experience! Especially Hide 'n Seek and Find the Keys! But, I must admit, it wasn't the first time we have trained in the dark! One thing is for certain ... I keep my dogs guessing.
I like Kathleen's pop quiz idea. I learned Monday's "use it or lose it" lesson well, so have made my own list of learned-but-not-done-for-a-while behaviors and try to include one or two new ones each day. Like Lily's default Pick Up the Dropped Leash While Walking Zen. Go Ahead. Go Lie Down in small places. A moving Wait. A moving Down. And Drop on Recall.
I told Dale on Monday, "I have confidence in Lily's behaviors. It's still her self-control that needs further explanation".
That means more Duration work. More Distraction work. And more Out of Sight. A minute here. Five minutes there.
And whatever happened to that "take Lily and go out to dinner" idea? Maybe tomorrow.
"Whenever you change something about a behavior, make everything else easier".
I was up at 1AM so, when I realized that sleep was going to elude me, we trained....in the dark. Hmmm. A totally different experience! Especially Hide 'n Seek and Find the Keys! But, I must admit, it wasn't the first time we have trained in the dark! One thing is for certain ... I keep my dogs guessing.
I like Kathleen's pop quiz idea. I learned Monday's "use it or lose it" lesson well, so have made my own list of learned-but-not-done-for-a-while behaviors and try to include one or two new ones each day. Like Lily's default Pick Up the Dropped Leash While Walking Zen. Go Ahead. Go Lie Down in small places. A moving Wait. A moving Down. And Drop on Recall.
I told Dale on Monday, "I have confidence in Lily's behaviors. It's still her self-control that needs further explanation".
That means more Duration work. More Distraction work. And more Out of Sight. A minute here. Five minutes there.
And whatever happened to that "take Lily and go out to dinner" idea? Maybe tomorrow.
