I'm having trouble resolving this. And I am a silent auditor so I can't ask Polona...
One of Silvia's first games in lesson 1 is that fist full of treats the dog has to learn not to paw or nibble or beg for by staring at your fist etc. but to learn to offer all kinds of other behaviors to get the reward from the fist. But, Polona's first lesson has the opposite goal with the fist of treats. She wants the dog to show some energy to directly get at the treats from your hand, specifically saying she wants determination pawing and nibbling etc to get the reward from the fist...
So can dogs understand that you are just playing a different game with the same set up?
I really like Polona's approach generally in her first assignments. These would be good for Stella. They are sort of like encouraging the bad dog in the dog, grabby-diving for food and jumping up on you with determination. Polona is encouraging "an attitude".
meanwhile we are making progress with object in object. I'm wondering whether switching from metal items to plastic items was key in our sudden success after so much randomness?
One of Silvia's first games in lesson 1 is that fist full of treats the dog has to learn not to paw or nibble or beg for by staring at your fist etc. but to learn to offer all kinds of other behaviors to get the reward from the fist. But, Polona's first lesson has the opposite goal with the fist of treats. She wants the dog to show some energy to directly get at the treats from your hand, specifically saying she wants determination pawing and nibbling etc to get the reward from the fist...
So can dogs understand that you are just playing a different game with the same set up?
I really like Polona's approach generally in her first assignments. These would be good for Stella. They are sort of like encouraging the bad dog in the dog, grabby-diving for food and jumping up on you with determination. Polona is encouraging "an attitude".
meanwhile we are making progress with object in object. I'm wondering whether switching from metal items to plastic items was key in our sudden success after so much randomness?
Comments
If you were active in holding the treats, waving them around, dragging your fist on the floor, etc... that might indicate interaction with your hand. I think as long as your cues are super clear and super different, you could play both games
And where we have encouraged Razz to jump up on us, MEB's retrieve powering up into the hip, and we love his hugs and face kisses---we trained Stella NOT TO DO THIS and we'd like to un-train it... she needs more drive these days... I'd like her to want that kind of drivey contact or "engagement" with me... anything to get at me, I'd like her to want to bite my sleeves (she wouldn't think of it) with excitement... I feel terrible we trained this out of her... as a puppy her crazy growly play scared me. we did everything to COOL HER OUT, I didn't know much about dogs really... never heard of agility...
Edited at 2015-03-25 08:59 pm (UTC)
Right now, not even a week of it, his recalls have gotten so much better when he is at off leash, today he came every time I called, but I had a toy, always had toy and so really he was coming for a game of tug or retrieves and I think thats fine for now, but I'd like him to come to us just because its us. so I'm in Poloma's class for that too
by the way, Silvia got a little miffed when I described her fist of treats game as an impulse control game...
Edited at 2015-03-25 09:01 pm (UTC)