Some background on what I’ve been working on the past few days, and then a question for my readers (maybe I don’t have enough for a lively discussion – but we’ll find out!).
Yesterday I decided to begin the “Crate Games” work from Susan Garrett’s dvd. Gitta is a boisterous pup that bumbles out of the crate when it’s opened, and occationally balks at going back in. She’s still so young and so ‘puppyish’ that you wonder if she’s really ready to pay attention and learn yet! As instructed I worked through the first 3 stages all in one session. It’s times like these when reinforcement training is like magic. In stage one, you simply open the crate, and shove your hand in – treating high and to the back to pull them into a sit away from the door. I did this with roast beef, over and over – maybe 15 reps – which was probably more than I needed. Suddenly, when I opened the door, Gitta actually jumped backwards paradoxically moving away from the treat in anticipation of getting it. Wow. It’s amazing to watch any dog learn in this way, but to see it in such a young puppy is truly amazing. I moved to step 2 and left the door open a moment before treating, or taking a step away. When she didn’t get the treat right away, she actually backed up further trying to find that magic position in the back of the crate that got her such rewards.
It was a truly amazing thing to watch, and Esteban was also dutifully impressed. The other thing that happened was that I stopped forcing her into the crate when she was unwilling to go back in. I simply held her by the door, preventing her from going anywhere else, and waited for her to decide she’d rather be in her crate, which she did – even when she really wanted to play but I had to leave the house.
I felt so proud of myself. Which brings us to today.
I’ve been struggling with teaching a spin and decided to give free shaping a try today. A spin is rediculously easy to lure, but as soon as you try to reduce your hand movement – it falls apart. After crate games and my earlier success at teaching Raph to go to a bed, I really wanted to try and teach it with shaping. For some reason, I just can’t shape the spin. Perhaps the movements are so minute and my timing is not good enough. But it was slow going, and at the moment, all I’ve done is give my poor dog a head twitch! When I grab the clicker, she jerks her head to the side like a fly just landed on her back. Am I on the right track? Maybe – but I can’t seem to make any progress on this one particular skill.
Which leads me to my philosophical question for the group. When I thought about it, the Stage 1 of Crate Games is just a lure, plain and simple. You place the reward high and to the back and pretty soon, that’s where the dog is going. So why is it that after only 15 reps, my dog is jumping back in the crate as soon as I open the door (no lure required), but I can spin my dog over and over with a lure and she just isn’t going to suddenly start spinning on her own? What is the big difference?
These aren’t rhetorical questions folks! I’m really starting to get better at clicker training/reinforcement training/shaping, but it seems there are some shaping plans I can execute well with no luring (go to your bed and lie down) and some I just can’t (spin, roll-over).
?
i face the similar situation. when we train for ‘down’ signal and give high treats, on the 6th repetition, my dog will ‘auto-down’ even before i lift my hand.as for the spinning, she had been spinning for months, yet she still needs some minor lure
Thanks for the comment Pacco! Through some combination of your comment and some 2am thinking (up taking the pups out to the bathroom) – I had a Eureka moment! Stay tuned for my next post!!!
Just a comment. The reward placement at the back of the crate in “Crate Games” is not a lure. A lure is always presented *before* a response is requested of the dog. A reward is always presented *after* the dog offers a response. Dog goes in crate = response; reward = roast beef, placed in a certain area, because the dog will learn quickly to anticipate *where* the reward is offered. This fact will help you in future shaping sessions and is very important. For example, when teaching a 2o2o at the end of a contact and the dog curls towards you, give the reward with your hand closest to the dog but to the outside of the dog’s head. The dog will anticipate the reward placement and stop curling towards you.