Peg, I almost thought you were dong a sit stay with him while he watched his favorite tv program!!! He seemed pretty focused forward!
He looked really solid to me. And great feedback and facilitation from you!
Your clockwork game is really tight. So it makes sense: I consider you at position 1 (we might call it 12:00) on the first 20 seconds of your video. Then, you move to position 2 (2:30). The 3rd position, which you reach at :44, is 4:30 perhaps:) And the final position is heel.
When working to each position in this game, I’ll generally reward/release from the position I’m in, without returning to the front. Because this is a game of focus. We have to terminate the behavior to reward… else we pull the dog off task when feeding (if we don’t terminate). So, at :44 when you move to the 3rd position, mark “yes” and let Chi release to feed. This makes it clear that the point of challenge was at that position, and he’s rewarded for sustaining focus to your face and not your hands.
Another note, and I don’t think I made this clear in the videos this week - when i get to position 3 and 4 around the clock, I try and reward exclusively from the left hand. This will draw the dog’s head up as they attempt to be closer to reward as it comes in. You are very familiar with this concept due to your time with Michael. As I get closer to heel, I want the dog to expect reward from the left hand. And if I’ve prepared them enough they’ll know the only strategy to get the mark is to look to the (side of) face. We’ll get a pretty high head position when we ‘conflict’ them between criteria for behavior and reward placement!
Love all the little things you do to keep things interesting in between reps!
Another note: After setting the dog up in a sit to start another repetition, I’ll move into whatever position I want (1,2,3 or 4) before extending my arm and asking for ‘watch’. Chi does an amazing job of staying on your face while you move between positions - this is HARD for dogs. So you’re ahead of the curve in this sense. But it may be all the same to move to position first and then commence the focus training. And when he’s brilliant, mark (terminal) and reward from that position, no return to front needed.
An example would be: at 1:14, after putting him in a sit, smoothly move to position 4 (no expectation of focus from him) and when you get there, then go into focus training mode by extending your arm, using “good” to support him in focus, and then “yes” to release him to reward (with overhead placement from left hand).
Also, when you start feeding from that left hand exclusively, it will be interesting to see how it affects his interpretation of the work. You might find that he does chase that left hand a bit - so we want to push that issue to make sure he’s solid that chasing the left isn’t a good strategy.
Beautiful work from the middle!!!! He’s really getting it. See if you can fade some of the “good” as you move forward from here. Still support him as needed, but also see where you can fade it. If he does make a mistake and look at the hand when you’re silent, simply wait for him to refind the face ((perhaps don’t say anything and let him discover himself) and then mark “yes” and feed when he does. He may self-discover the best strategy toward reward!!!
Excellent piece-work, Peg. It really is coming together quite nicely!
