I finally had a chance to put my theory to the test of tossing treats away from me and clicking for "fronts". Worked pretty well it didn't take much time at all before Wynn was running for his tossed treat and running back to stand in "front". It was a good session for fronts.
Worked on a couple other behaviors, one was to begin to teach Wynn to lift his feet so we can do paw kick behaviors. With Nike the way I taught this was to put a piece of food into my hand and waited until she batted it with a paw, click and open the hand. I was hoping that as much as Wynn uses his feet to get my attention and rip the skin off my legs that this would be easy - wrong. He never tried to use feet to get into my hand he was all about mouthing the hand with the food. So I removed the food and decided to try the tickle technique. Gently tickle the back of the foot just above the pad on the back and he did move his foot a couple of time and allowed me to get in several clicks and treats - although I can't say with any confidence that he moved his foot with any understanding that the foot movement is what I wanted. We'll have to have a couple more sessions before I'll probably see some understanding.
BUILDING TOY DRIVE
Since I got Wynn I have always included him in play time with Nike and her Frisbee. It is my goal to - if not create another Ashley Whippet to at least let the legend live on a little in Wynn. I can say that he is becoming more and more toy driven and enjoying the Frisbee more and more as an "interactive" toy. Let me explain. Initially Wynn's typical Frisbee playing went something like this - chase Frisbee ONE time flinging yourself into some scary pretzel shape so that your mom would be scared out of her begebies that you were going to break something. land on the ground and run around the yard with your "Frisbee trophy" showing off to the world that you had a Frisbee. Don't bring it back to play again, instead drop the Frisbee you have in your mouth and try to steal the Frisbee that sister has and run around the yard with that Frisbee."
Well, you can see that "Wynn's" version of how to play Frisbee didn't have any real value to me as a training tool. What good is a toy that the dog doesn't need the human to make work! I never told Wynn that what he was doing was "bad", but I didn't do anything to make his version of Frisbee "fun" either. We (husband & I) didn't let him get away with stealing sisters Frisbee and we just played the Frisbee game "our" way. Today Wynn played Frisbee with "my" rules. I finished a little training session and threw him his mini Frisbee (which he likes better than the big ones) and he caught it and began to run out of the training ring and parade his trophy and I said "What are you doing? Get back in here!". And he did, came back, gave me the Frisbee, caught and returned it several times. I made sure I stopped before he was ready to stop. "Always leave them wanted more!"
LIZARD BRAIN SESSION PART 1
First I guess it would be best to define "Lizard Brain". Lizard brain is that mental state when the dog is so highly focused on the presence of the reinforcement that he cannot seem to think or respond to training requests. He doesn't seem capable of working and is overwhelmed with obtaining the reinforcement. Many times people will say - he can't work if I have food in my hand or he can't work if he sees the tennis ball. This is Lizard brain in action. The problem is if you don't work through Lizard Brain you are robbing yourself of the great animation that comes from a dog working for the "good stuff" and you rob the dog of an opportunity to earn "the good stuff" - you are basically limiting your training tool box of it's most powerful tools.
As I mention Wynn is becoming more and more driven to play Frisbee and I saw flashes of lizard brain in the back ground while we were "playing" so decided to "work through it". Had both Wynn and Nike do side by side spins "clicked" and ran for the Frisbee's tossing them both and playing with each dog for a couple throws. Then when I had possession of both Frisbee's I held them up by my shoulders and said "SIT". Nike who had worked through Lizard Brain many years ago promptly put her tush on the ground. Wynn said, "Frisbee, Frisbee must have Frisbee! Why are you not throwing Frisbee, talking, she's talking, Nike why are you sitting there, "sit" Frisbee, throw the Frisbee! "Sit?", "Sit?" OH SIT, plop butt - Yeah Frisbee!!! We played a few more retrieves at which time I had possession of both Frisbee's and said "Down". Oh my, the Whippets most difficult command and I was asking for it while holding a Frisbee just out of reach. Poor Nike, she was laying down so hard trying to get me to throw that Frisbee (after all she had obeyed - several verbal encouragements to her - but I couldn't give her the Frisbee as Wynn is always able to take from his "slow" sister. ) Finally the fog cleared and Wynn was able to lay down, even with the Frisbee present. I do believe that Nike modeling the behavior actually helped Wynn to "break through" Lizard Brain faster than if she hadn't been there. Whippets (at least the one I own) seem to have a great ability for observational learning - more than any dog I've owned previously.
Training Plan - I will add several "lizard brain" training sessions first with the Frisbee until Wynn can respond to the first command in the presence of the Frisbee and then I will move to his higher motivator - FOOD and work through Lizard Brain in the presence of food. It will be worth the time and trouble.
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