[nagdu] clicker training

[Hope Paulos]

Thanks so much, Rox. Beignet has been trained by Fidelco using the "jerk and 
praise" method, but they've also exposed her to clicker (she ahd 2 different 
trainers with 2 different training approaches)...  I'll work hard with her 
re: the food refusal. Also want to get together with you online  to talk 
about other stuff-- one thing being improvement of recall and I can't 
remember the other thing at the moment.
Take care!
Hope and Beignet
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "The Pawpower Pack" <pawpower4me at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 31, 2010 7:04 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] clicker training


> Hi Hope,
>
> I set her up when she first came to live with me.  I started out by 
> teaching her to target my hand on cue.  Once that was fluent, we began 
> working food refusal.  I put some really boring food, like saltines or 
> matzo on the floor.  I brought Laveau in on leash so I could feel more  of 
> what she's doing-- a hearing blind person may be able to use a bell  on 
> their dog in this case but I felt like the leash would give me the  most 
> feedback.
> I showed her the food on the ground and when she looked at it, I asked 
> her to touch my hand instead.  When she did, I gave her a very yummy  high 
> value treat such as dried liver or dried fish which are really  smelly but 
> the dogs love them.
> We gradually began walking around the food, keeping it really boring  and 
> I really reinforced Laveau when she looked away from the food.   Then we 
> moved up to better food, people holding food etc.  We call  this doggie 
> zen, which means giving up what you want to get what you  want.  If you 
> want food, you need to ignore the food and then you'll  get some.  The 
> same thing goes for sitting at the table.  I do feed my  dogs from my 
> plate, but the only way they're going to get fed is by  laying down and 
> ignoring me.
> Laveau came to me with some very ingrained habits, one of which was 
> counter surfing.  It also didn't help that she was very malnourished  and 
> under fed.  I had to block off the kitchen and really work with  her on 
> ignoring food.  She still backslides occasionally but in this  last year 
> especially, she's really seemed to improve.
> I think part of it, for Laveau, was that she wasn't sure she'd get fed 
> regularly because she had been so malnourished for the first year of  her 
> life.  Now she knows that she gets breakfast every morning and  snacks 
> occasionally and especially in this last year she has come to  trust that 
> I'm not going to stop feeding her or give her away.  Most  program trained 
> dogs don't have this particular issue with food since  they've had great 
> care.
> However with Laveau I had to be careful not to correct her and if she  did 
> get food I just calmly removed it from her and walked away.  I  didn't 
> want food to become a battle,
>
> Rox and the Herbal HenchHounds
> Bristol (retired), Mill'E SD. and Laveau Guide Dog, CGC.
> "It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point 
> out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half- wit, 
> and the emperor remains an emperor."-- Neil Gaiman
> http://www.pawpowercreations.com/retreat.html
> pawpower4me at gmail.com
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>
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