Another dozen for suppertime. I've now got three mugs 2' apart. Another small glitch has shown up. She's lying down once in a while before she gets to the correct mug. This might be her trying to get rewarded for lying down, but I have the distinct feeling that's not it. I think she's getting a drift of the kibble smell and lying down to indicate it, but she's near a neighbouring mug. There are many situations where I might want her indicate an air scent, but this isn't one of them, so either way, what she's doing is incorrect. The muzzle-to-mug would be a better indicator, I now see, but I think I can tighten this up without going back to it. If she touches the right one and then downs on the spot, she'll be correct. She's also tried backing away from the mug a few steps before lying down. In both these cases, I'm showing her the one she's closest to (empty! Dang!), and bringing her back to the start line to try again, and she's been more specific (and correct) each time. Once she was directly in between two mugs and hadn't yet actually stuck her nose in either one, so I repeated the cue (Which one?) and she quite deliberately touched the correct one.
I think I'll start with the kibble tomorrow morning and then switch to a tea bag tomorrow afternoon and start back easier.
Sue, as you are training the initial alerting behavior, think ahead to the Scent Wheel, where the canisters won't be 2' apart. The Down behavior might not be as precise as you will want when you get into more specific choices.
ReplyDelete