Top Secret Training Tool aka the GOB!

Let's see, I kinda left you hanging. So the GOB...

BTW, props to Laura Dallas who first mentioned this concept to me, about 2 years ago. Her idea that if the dog had to move a ball to get to something underneath was pure genius! This is the first time I've actually had the dog to attempt this with!

Still this can't possibly work right, I mean, seriously, it's a christmas ornament & a bowl.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=popT9Yv1mPs

Oh damn it did! Notice what I'm not doing? I'm not begging, I'm not flailing around motioning at the ball, I'm not saying much at all, just asking him to try again when he fails. He learns through failure and you gotta have the patience to let the dog try & fail, and not let it be the end of the world. Of course then you add more turkey ham to the bowl when the times get really rough and he rolls over & pretends he's dead.

So we did a lot of GOB work, with the nubby up, concept: pick up the thing, get a reward. The bowl kept him from dragging or pushing the GOB, I kept him from nudging it aside to get the food underneath. Almost immediately, I didn't allow him to get the treats himself out of the bowl, I doled out the treats. Probably the most key concept is that I never allowed him to get the GOB out of the bowl any other way than with his mouth. And reward heavily with high value treats (ie with lots of little bits of diced ham!).

Here is some more of George's first GOB work, it's not very exciting, but you get an idea that just b/c he figured it out, doesn't mean he's "got it" perfectly yet.
http://www.youtube.com/mcjayne#p/u/0/KWeCOqIBNcU
I know I read in an agility magazine that you go for a 80-90% success rate w/ a clicker. So when they do it right 90 times outta 100, you can consider it pretty solid. Dang, that's a lot of clicking! I guess my point is that just because a dog does it a few times, don't assume that they are solid & always be prepared to take a step back in training to make sure they really got it. Don't see it as a set back, but instead as a sign that the dog is telling they just don't understand yet, could you show them again?

Step 6, part b. So we played with the GOB, nubby up for a long time. It got easier & easier for George, you'd set the GOB in & he'd pull it right out. I phased out having treats in the bowl really quickly so the bowl became really only a reason to lift the GOB high. So it was time to up the ante. I flipped the GOB over, and it was just a round ball, granted it has a little texture to it, but it's bigger than a normal tennis ball. My hope was to switch to a tennis ball as soon as possible but of course we needed a bridge between the nice easy grab the nubby side of the GOB gave him, and a real tennis ball. It took him several attempts to actually open his mouth wider and get a grip on the non-nubby side of the GOB. Once he figured out how to do that we were golden! He quickly worked up to pulling the GOB out almost as soon as I put it in the bowl. Yeah!!

Step 6, part c. So that whole GOB thing...yeah well, we were done with the GOB. But here's the slick thing, he got the concept: pick up something, pick it up high, use your mouth, get a reward! So part c was simply putting a real tennis ball in the bowl & letting him ponder that. He figured that out so quickly it was just lovely. But then we were stuck for a long time, if I moved the ball out of the bowl & just had it on the ground he was totally befuddled, in the bowl, he'd instantly pick it up. So I alternated 1 time outta the bowl, then bowl disappears & I would cup the ball with my hand and have the back of my hand on the ground. It took a few tries but he started picking it up out of my hand, and then I was able to transition to just setting it on the ground in front of him. For several sessions we had to always start w/ the ball in the bowl, at least once then he'd retrieve it off the ground. That's okay by me, that's some really easy back chaining to do. After several more sessions w/ the bowl we phased it out completely & he was picking up the ball off the floor with no problems. Yeah!!

Steps 7-10 details will be blogged another day sadly.

Squibby!
Yeah you remember him right, I do every time I work with George cause Squibby makes it a lot easier on me. Nonetheless, he's still a young dog & he can meltdown just cause his little brain is overwhelmed.

Tug 4 Ball:
We humans spend a lot of time wiggling tugs for dogs, but we don't always explain to them that they are working to get the tug. I mean great the dog loves a tug, but will they work for it, will they do something specific to get the tug? So for Squibby, this video just shows that we are working the same concept as George is...minus the need for a GOB. For this I'm asking Squibby to go pick up a ball and then we'll have a nice game of tug as his reward. We've worked a fair amount of food for the ball, so I wanted to make sure he understood that picking up the ball could also lead to other rewards. This is also a training exercise that helps balance tug vs. ball drive. I'm making a big deal about the tug, not so much about getting the ball. In this case, I don't actually even care that he brings the ball to the tug, just that he go & pick it up, then we'll tug like crazy. Look the tug is more fun than the ball!
http://www.youtube.com/mcjayne#p/u/0/tgc-UGwGj3k

Bring me the Ball!
Hum, but the ball is really important in flyball, and this is why I'm working to balance how much Squibby loves both those things. I also think it's important that the dog understand that bringing the ball TO me is important. So this video shows not only just how awesome I can stop a rolling ball with my feet, but that I'm specifically rewarding a retrieve based on having him bring the ball to me, not just sorta near me. And a warning, this video is duller than most, but you can look for these nuances. IMHO there are two parts to a retrieve, you'll hear my two cues in the video, 1) Where is your ball (ie go find the ball) and 2) Bring the ball (duh). The nice thing about using a clicker to teach or hone a dog's retrieve is that they sort of naturally start holding the ball UNTIL they hear a click, so you can get them to bring you a ball a longer distance just by not clicking until they are closer to you. I also reinforce that by making them go pick up the ball if it's not close enough to me (and heavily reward dropped, then picked up & carried further balls). Even George has picked up on this skill. I don't make a big deal about it, just whoopsy, "where is your ball" to recue them to pick it up. We start small, with just bringing it a few inches, but you can clearly see that Squibby's got it, he's bringing it to almost the exact same spot each time. And he's getting very tiny rewards, but a lot of them for bringing the ball nice & close to me.
http://www.youtube.com/mcjayne#p/a/u/0/tlFa6vfhWpo


So that's it, a nice burst of blogging but sheez I'm tired & still have more video to edit, laundry to do, a lawn to mow, sigh.