Mostly I worked on teaching Marty to give me really good treats really fast so that I walk with her. I teach her this by going way ahead when she doesn't use good treats or doesn't give me enough. She got a lot better at this, but she still needs more work when there are distractions. Just as a test, we went out in the barn during a giant windstorm and let me just tell you, Marty got VERY distracted and didn't give me NEARLY enough treats. She didn't even notice that the barn was about to fall down around us, so I had to take her back inside very quickly.We also worked on her remembering to give me a treat when she wants me to give her a ball. She thinks I should give her the ball for free, and sometimes I let her get away with that. It's called "intermittent reinforcement".
I got a lot more practice doing my "Bang!" trick, and we started working on Marty putting a treat on my nose. So far she can almost touch my nose with it, but not quite. We're going to keep working on that.
I am teaching Marty to give me a treat for "Take It". That means I put my mouth on something and I get a treat. Eventually I am going to go ahead and take it from her and carry it around, but she's not ready for that yet. I have to go very slowly with her, it's not like she's a Border Human.
I really enjoyed working with Miss Pat again. (Miss Pat is really well trained. She must have super genius dogs as trainers.) We got our graduation bags, and mine had special treats AND A BALL! Obviously, Miss Pat loves me. Our graduation bag did not have human treats this time. Obviously, that is a reflection on the relative performances of the different members of the team. This is Marty's first certificate! I have gotten lots of certificates (because I am AWESOME), but Marty has never gotten one before, so we all have to pretend to be impressed.
Love it! Anzio, you really are awesome!
ReplyDelete