Last weekend we went to Christchurch for an agility show. This was particularly exciting because Able’s breeder lives nearby, and this was the first chance she had to see him since he left home. Unfortunately his mum was in season so we couldn’t compare sizes (I reckon he would be as big as she is now) but it was awesome to catch up and talk about how our puppies are coming along. Her daughter has kept Able’s sister and intends to compete in agility with her later.
The Lolly Jar
One of the things that came up in our discussion was how I use treats in my training. I’m quite lazy and I can’t be bothered with special treat pouches, or stuffing food into my pocket and having to fish it out (although I do need to do this when we are out on walks). The easiest solution is just to have a bowl or jar of food available at convenient hand height nearby, that I can grab a handful from when I need to.
This lolly jar is also an important distraction that I use in my training. When Able was little he couldn’t really reach the pile of bikkies on the couch, but now that he is much taller he can. He doesn’t bother trying though, because through many sessions of repetition he has learned that he will get those bikkies by participating in my training session – not by staring at or trying to get his head into the lolly jar. Another example of It’s Yer Choice in action!
I can increase the distraction level by asking him to do something near the lolly jar (like Crate Games right past it), or with his back to the lolly jar … he does still like to rotate himself around a bit so that he can at least see it out of his peripheral vision and make sure it won’t disappear! Over time I will also put the bikkies lower down, where they are even more tempting to a hungry puppy.
With my older dog Rik I can do a full training session of anything I like with her full dinner bowl on the ground. I grab handfuls out of it to feed her now and then, and she scarcely glances at it. Able is a looooong way away from being able to think about his training when his dinner bowl is Right Over There On The Floor – but we will get there with time.
Able’s Attention Adjustment
Able conducted himself very well at the dog show, on the whole. We spent some time sitting quite close to the action, with lots of dogs walking past, and he mostly preferred to offer his “fake relaxing” behaviour of lying down on one hip and looking at me. He was sensible around all the adult dogs, although he was a bit too much for his similarly-aged cousin Nike who he wanted to play with.
I was particularly surprised when he met his “birth family” again for the first time. The initial greeting was predictably Very Very High-Energy, but after a few minutes he settled down and stood there, just looking at me. I’m sure this was partly down to the presence of bikkies, but there was something else at play here too.
For two months now I have been feeding my puppy just for looking at me.
Not just in the context of lying quietly near an agility ring. Everywhere.
This was an exercise from the Fenzi course I did on over-enthusiastic greeters. The modern way to deal with behaviour problems is to think of incompatible behaviours that you do want and make these really strong. Looking at me is incompatible with knocking over old ladies or trying to shove his tongue up someone’s nose or dragging me towards a hapless toddler, all things that Able would like to do.
But all the same, feeding my puppy just for attention felt … icky. Like I was literally buying his affection. And creating a strong behaviour of staring at me which would make later agility training more difficult in the process. It’s not something I’ve done with any of my previous dogs and it made me feel a bit uncomfortable … but I was/am concerned that my puppy will injure somebody with his violently exuberant greetings, so I sucked it up and did it. And I’m glad I did.
For the record, I haven’t actually been buying his affection by feeding him just for existing. I’ve been shaping him to offer the behaviour of looking at me more often, and for longer periods. This means that I looked for (very) brief check-ins when he glanced up at me, and used my “Cookie” marker to capture those and reward him. I’d never really noticed just how little my puppy did look at me until I tried this, but there’s been a noticeable improvement now.
Able and I still have a way to go before he can reliably behave himself out in public, but well … he’s only seven months old. We’ll get there!