Progressing nicely

[crysania4]

Dahlia is now doing a "sit pretty" for 2-3 seconds without balancing on me. I sort of shaped the whole thing (without using a clicker). The steps went like this:

1. Ask her for a sit pretty while holding onto her paw and lifting upward just slightly, which made her bring her other foot up.

2. Ask for a sit pretty and let her bring both feet up onto my legs, so that she was resting with her legs on me.

3. Ask for a sit pretty and when she tries to rest her feet on me, step back and tell her to try it again. You could almost see her mind work! She looked at me for a second and then tried it without resting against me. It took her a moment to really get her balance, but after a couple tries she figured out how to balance properly for a few seconds.

We'll keep at it, but I think she's getting it. It's not a behavior I'm really going to "proof" as it's not an important one, but I do want to see if I can show it off at the work picnic this Saturday! Last year she was only just getting "down"!

Comments

[anobjectinspace.livejournal.com]

That's awesome :-) Holly is still trying to work that one out... being a staffie she has a v thick skull so I think she's a bit top-heavy. She doesn't believe me when I tell her she can balance like that on her own.

Actually, I have synesthesia (seeing words, letter and music as pictures, colours etc), and I was talking about it with my housemate a few months ago, and somehow we got to the fact that the word 'mandibles' feels like me waving my arms in the air manically. Yeh, I know, happens a lot with my crazy housemate and I. Very weird, very random. Anyway, my point is that it bcame an in-joke and we sometimes randomly say it and wave our arms around. Well, I'm not actually teaching Holly 'sit pretty,' I'm teaching her 'mandibles.' She is learning to sit up in her back legs and wave her front paws around when we say 'mandibles' and do it too.

Just to creep out visitors...

I actually feel kind of sorry for Holly, being my pet...

[crysania4.livejournal.com]

That's awesome though! I still want to teach her to put her paw over her muzzle when I say "What do you think of Cesar?" lol

[anobjectinspace.livejournal.com]

Oh that is brilliant! I've been wanting to teach Holly to cover her nose with her paws in a sort of 'oh noes!' thing but couldn't work out what command to use because I wanted it to be in reply to something. That is excellent though! Can I use that?

[anobjectinspace.livejournal.com]

Eh, can't find edit comment... meant to say obviously I wouldn't be using such a long command... wouldn't expect her to figure that out... just 'Cesar' should do it... then she'd get the word at the end of the question and do it lol.

I never wanted to teach Holly tricks but she's the kind of dog who needs constant brain training and wants so much to please... and she adores training sessions but cottons on so fast I'm always having to think up new things! A couple of months ago she was only just finding out I'm disabled now. Since then she has learned to help me stand, to open doors and to fetch my keys and my water bottle! She's getting a bit scary...

[crysania4.livejournal.com]

I figure she'll really respond to "Cesar" so when I ask "what do you think of Cesar" she'll really be responding to the end of it. If that makes sense? Kind of like when I asked her if she wants to go for a walk and she responds when I get to the word walk.

And yes you're most welcome to use it!

Holly's a wonderfully smart dog. It's fun to try to keep up with them!

[anobjectinspace.livejournal.com]

*nod* Yup, that's about it... I will try that then... running low on treats though until my carer picks me some up on Monday so it'll have to wait methinks. We have an awesome pet shop though - £5 keeps her in treats for over a month! Pretty good when you have a dog who is so damn smart you're constantly having to teach her new things just so she doesn't get bored of you...

*grin* Yup, she is smart. Dahlia's part collie, isn't she? Or am I remembering that wrong? Either way - I bet she runs circles round you sometimes :-P Next time I'm getting a sheep. Tuh.