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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Training Tuesday

I've been playing a new training game with Shyla. I place treats right in front of her, and I put her in a "stay" behind them. I hoped to get a photo of her staring at them. However, she has developed the strategy of not looking at the treats so she's not tempted to snarf them!

Indeed, she sometimes even closes her eyes to make this challenge easier.

Then, I call her to me, which requires her to hop over or run around the treats. You can see her side-stepping them in the next photo as she started to run to me.
When Shyla arrived at my feet, I gave her a jackpot of higher value treats than the ones she was resisting when she was in a "stay". Then, I ask her to heel over to the pile of treats she previously resisted. When I released her from the heel, she was free to eat them all!

It's a great game for teaching Shyla that she'll get the most "good stuff" if she resists temptations and recalls directly to me. It also teaches her that she might get whatever tempted her if she first does what I ask. That's a concept that I hope to generalize to the rest of her life.

In case you want to try this, you start with the "temptation" far away from your dog and in a place where you can stop your dog if she decides to snarf the temptation. It takes a long time to reach the point that the temptation is directly in front of the dog's nose.

As we've worked through our new training program, our bond has grown ever stronger. For photos, I sometimes like it when Shyla doesn't look at me. However, in the past months, she seems to want to make eye contact with me all the time.
I think that her wish for eye contact is a wonderful thing, and I certainly won't discourage it!
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22 comments:

  1. MurphyNovember 24, 2015 at 2:55 PM

    Mom does this with us every day using chicken. We are good at waiting until she says to take it.

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

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  2. Idaho PugRanchNovember 24, 2015 at 3:07 PM

    Love the "If I close my eyes I won't be tempted!" photo
    hugs
    Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel

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  3. stellaroselongNovember 24, 2015 at 3:12 PM

    Wow she has a lot of strength not to go after those treats, there is no way we wuld do that at ours house......stella rose

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  4. zoepheedogsNovember 24, 2015 at 3:28 PM

    Good girl, Shyla! We play similar games like that one! The girls do the same thing where they will not look at the treat. LOL! :D

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  5. SullyNovember 24, 2015 at 3:33 PM

    Oh Shyla, I feel your pain and I have to admit I never mastered the stay with treat placed in front of me. Maybe I should have closed my eyes like you.

    Aroo to you,
    Sully

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  6. Hailey and Zaphod and their LadyNovember 24, 2015 at 5:34 PM

    Going to have to try that one with Hailey. This will be hard for her. She has very little impulse control. Love that Shyla has found ways to cope with the temptation.

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  7. Brian's Home BlogNovember 24, 2015 at 5:56 PM

    You are a smart one beautiful Shyla!

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  8. ♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥November 24, 2015 at 6:40 PM

    Shyla is just such a doll - love the closed eyes tactic:)

    Happy Thanksgiving to you, the Runner, and your family.

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  9. Bella Roxy & MacduiNovember 24, 2015 at 7:07 PM

    We like her 'if I can't see them, they're not there' strategy! She's such a clever girl.

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  10. The Adventures of the LLB GangNovember 24, 2015 at 7:35 PM

    Dory also has to look away during "leave it"!

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  11. rottroverNovember 24, 2015 at 7:47 PM

    Shyla, I do the same thing with ice cream!

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  12. NCmountainwomanNovember 24, 2015 at 8:09 PM

    Ellie was very much like Shyla in that she would totally avoid looking at the treats. It was almost as if she were afraid if she looked at them she might have to eat them.

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  13. 24 Paws of LoveNovember 24, 2015 at 8:15 PM

    What a great challenge! I'll have to try it out on the dogs and see how they do. :)

    thanks for the idea!

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  14. RubyNovember 24, 2015 at 9:13 PM

    OMD, Ma does that 'leeeeeeave' thing everyday!!!! Then she walks away and tells me 'leeeeeeave' then again and again...I really hates that word...☺
    Now she says she's gonna try the walk around the treatie....crap. I don't know if I can handle THAT! BOL
    Kisses,
    Ruby ♥

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  15. DukeNovember 25, 2015 at 3:24 AM

    Rest assured that we will NEVER be able to accomplish that trick! You rock, Shyla!

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  16. easyweimaranerNovember 25, 2015 at 5:27 AM

    Thanks Shyla! that could be the trick to do this trick... I only have to close my eyes then I will not eats the treats immediately :o)

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  17. Mary HoneNovember 25, 2015 at 8:22 AM

    I'm going to do that with Torrey. She has a great "drop it" but I think this would be good too.

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  18. QuinnNovember 25, 2015 at 8:41 AM

    That's a good training game! We're about to enter the period of "on lead almost always" (=hunting season) and I'm starting a list of fun ways to play/train on a long lead. But first I have to find my long lead...haven;t seen it since last winter! I hope Piper didn't "put it away" for me. Did I ever tell you about finding a collection of expensive treat-dispensing rubber toys stashed WAY under the screen porch where they could not be seen from any angle? She's no dummy, that Piper...dispensed with the dispenser in hopes of getting straight to the treats. And it worked!

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  19. Two French BulldogsNovember 25, 2015 at 11:14 AM

    Oh Shyla! That's nothing but torture training
    Lily & Edward

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  20. BocciNovember 25, 2015 at 3:00 PM

    Hey, thanks for that training advice—Parental Unit knows she should work with me more...and this might be a new game that will help me be less...impulsive.

    We might have missed it, but we'd love to hear many more of your training "how to's"!

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  21. Angels Amber and Max DaWeenie and MomNovember 25, 2015 at 7:40 PM

    That is so funny that she closes her eyes so she's not tempted! :o)

    Happy Thanksgiving!

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  22. Maery RoseDecember 1, 2015 at 4:37 PM

    I have to try this! It sounds like a better way of training than having them resist the treat and then take it. Maybe Latte will connect the delayed but even better gratification and come to me rather than being entranced by squirrels. A girl can dream...

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