Training Progress!
Finally, our little princess is starting to GROW UP.
WHEW.
Today, we finally started to get what I consider REAL progress on some of her task training.
She has finally grasped "pick it up" and "give" as a pair of commands that REALLY MATTER to me.
Right now, I am in a lot of pain, and I can't easily bend over- she's noticed this. I knocked a jar of pills off my desk, and it happened to fall in her playpen area, where she was laying- and she got this FUNNY look...
...you could almost SEE it dawn on her.
Cora . o O ( when Dad trains me... he says "oops" or "darn" and THEN he says, "Pick it up" and if I do, he clicks... but then asks me to "Give" it to him, and IF I do, he clicks and treats me... HMMMmm... he just DROPPED something, and said "darn!"... what... what if I were to PICK it up... and GIVE it?)
She SCRAMBLED for it, suddenly, like that few moments of thinking had been EVERYTHING had sunk in--- and she picked it up, and gave it to me.
Her butt was wagging frantically, and lucky for me, I had a peice of cheese (smokey mozzarella!) right at hand from dinner... and I was able to treat her for the hard work!
I praised her mightily, and loved on her for several moments- then we did five repititions of it with an empty bottle, untill she seemed to really grasp that YES, this 'training' game was the SAME as the REAL LIFE application of this.
I know it might seem strange to place such signifigance on this, but for a Service Dog, it MUST come 'naturally' to some extent. They have to really understand what they do, when to do it, and why... Cora loves getting petted more than being given treats, so reward is NO problem for her- but she wasn't understanding that these silly 'tricks' we were asking of her were NOT just training-time-games... they had real world applications!
This is the SECOND task she has completed learning- tho she is not yet ready for full public access. She is getting there!!!
She also started to figure out that I really cannot get up, without putting my hand on something and using it to help me up- while I have been so sick, if I start to get up, she circles me and puts her shoulders under my hand- which is also a trained-task we have been working on- so I can lean on her to rise up.
I think she is slowly starting to understand... this could be her JOB... her PLACE in the pack! Not just silly things we ASK of her, but things I NEED...
I am thinking of trying to train for public access a little this coming week, before I have surgery to deal with. It would be SO NICE if she could visit me in the hospital if I end up staying there very long. I would need my puppy kisses, ya know. :) ...maybe we can work on her manners, just enough she could do a fly-by visit... she has to learn to be calm enough and not try to be EVERYONE'S best best best friend and give face licks to them ALL. (grins) Not everyone WANTS those, silly pup!
I will see if Jim can take some video of us working on something. I keep meaning to document some of her progress that way, and I never remember my little camera WILL take small video clips! That would rawk. :)
WHEW.
Today, we finally started to get what I consider REAL progress on some of her task training.
She has finally grasped "pick it up" and "give" as a pair of commands that REALLY MATTER to me.
Right now, I am in a lot of pain, and I can't easily bend over- she's noticed this. I knocked a jar of pills off my desk, and it happened to fall in her playpen area, where she was laying- and she got this FUNNY look...
...you could almost SEE it dawn on her.
Cora . o O ( when Dad trains me... he says "oops" or "darn" and THEN he says, "Pick it up" and if I do, he clicks... but then asks me to "Give" it to him, and IF I do, he clicks and treats me... HMMMmm... he just DROPPED something, and said "darn!"... what... what if I were to PICK it up... and GIVE it?)
She SCRAMBLED for it, suddenly, like that few moments of thinking had been EVERYTHING had sunk in--- and she picked it up, and gave it to me.
Her butt was wagging frantically, and lucky for me, I had a peice of cheese (smokey mozzarella!) right at hand from dinner... and I was able to treat her for the hard work!
I praised her mightily, and loved on her for several moments- then we did five repititions of it with an empty bottle, untill she seemed to really grasp that YES, this 'training' game was the SAME as the REAL LIFE application of this.
I know it might seem strange to place such signifigance on this, but for a Service Dog, it MUST come 'naturally' to some extent. They have to really understand what they do, when to do it, and why... Cora loves getting petted more than being given treats, so reward is NO problem for her- but she wasn't understanding that these silly 'tricks' we were asking of her were NOT just training-time-games... they had real world applications!
This is the SECOND task she has completed learning- tho she is not yet ready for full public access. She is getting there!!!
She also started to figure out that I really cannot get up, without putting my hand on something and using it to help me up- while I have been so sick, if I start to get up, she circles me and puts her shoulders under my hand- which is also a trained-task we have been working on- so I can lean on her to rise up.
I think she is slowly starting to understand... this could be her JOB... her PLACE in the pack! Not just silly things we ASK of her, but things I NEED...
I am thinking of trying to train for public access a little this coming week, before I have surgery to deal with. It would be SO NICE if she could visit me in the hospital if I end up staying there very long. I would need my puppy kisses, ya know. :) ...maybe we can work on her manners, just enough she could do a fly-by visit... she has to learn to be calm enough and not try to be EVERYONE'S best best best friend and give face licks to them ALL. (grins) Not everyone WANTS those, silly pup!
I will see if Jim can take some video of us working on something. I keep meaning to document some of her progress that way, and I never remember my little camera WILL take small video clips! That would rawk. :)