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This is night five of the #horsecoatstudy and we are on to step 6 of #symboltraining . This step introduces both signs at once and starts to teach the dogs the relevant symbol. This was a very informative lesson!

🐶 First, both dogs were definitely upset at the change in the criteria and the unexpected complexity. I expect this to reduce as they work out the pattern but tomorrow night I will endeavour to make it less frustrating for them.

🐺 Thistle is pretty good at puzzle solving and has got it down, but the change in routine has thrown her so she offers a few other random tricks and vocalises a lot. . But she seems to already be clocking on to the signs preceeding different actions, as she becomes less frantic and vocalising towards the end. I misclicked one sign with her - I clicked sunshine when she was already coatless - so for this I quickly did a sham pat down such as will be introduced later on in step 9 when a third symbol (no change) is introduced.

🐶 Thyme struggled a LOT. Thyme is not a puzzle solver, he is very literal guy and shaping is not something he is super good at. He gets frustrated super easily and needs it in teeny tiny digestible pieces. The change between step 5 and step 6, for Thyme, is a BIG piece. I fondly think of him as dumb-smart. I waited a bit for him to try the other sign but he was frustrating himself so I pointed out the other sign. This was to let him know he had two signs to choose between. I only had to do this twice, then he started trying the sign on his own. So I think give him a couple of more sessions and he will start to make the problem solving connection between the signs, his current coat status and the coat actions.

🐶 Another bit of information during Thyme’s session. He knocked the signs down and gave himself a fright :( He was noticeable more subdued and hesitant afterwards. Still trying to puzzle solve, but I ended after a couple of repetitions rather than push him. He’s got a lot to think about before tomorrow night! And I will endeavor to make the sign stand more sturdy.

#dogs #dogblr #animals #dog training #canine education #real dog training #symbol training #choice training #my videos #the horse study #got soooo much feedback from the dogs from upping the difficulty #the jump from step five to step 6 is HUGE #comparatively we are at the same level as the faster learning horses #aka on track to hopefully???? have this all done within 14 sessions?#as in the dogs to comprehend the meaning of sign symbols to indicate coat wearing ppreference????#im trying to step up my game before spring hits because this study requires some super cold days #anyway currently at the same pace as the horses #i think some extra challenges in terms of how movement dogs are so i gotta be fast to go through the steps #or they start offering other behaviours #even with the click #they were both super frustrated at the change in rules but i expect some practice and clarity #that will ease #thistle is calmer towards the end of her 5 minutes she was grasping the sign differences i think #thyme being more literal not quite there yet he was #quote calmer unquote #because of his fright from it falling down not from any measure of understanding #or clarity moment

Been awhile since I worked on the #symboltraining from the horse study!I need to step up my game before the weather warms up!

We are still on step 5. We did eight changes each dog. I think the dogs have worked out that touching the symbol means a coat will be put/taken off on THEN they get a reward. I’m basing this off that they both tend to turn and stare at their bowl of food while I change the jacket. Except that one moment where i don’t think Thistle has heard the clicker so she kept targeting while I was putting the coat on 😂 I should have just clicked again to make it clear for her.

They meet the criteria to advance to the next step. So tomorrow we start having both signs present to try and teach the different meanings.

I wonder how they will go compared to the horses?

Session 1: completed steps 1-4 Session 2: step 5 Session 3: step 5 continued (trouble shooting) Session 4: step 5 assessment (pass) Tomorrow is Session 5: step 6!

#dog training #symbol training #canine education #real dog training #dogblr #horse study #choice training #my videos #thistle #the horse study is just so damn fascinating!!!!#how useful it would be if I can teach my dogs such as well #but also wow how mind blowing #really stretching my HUH!!!!! feelings #such a well written study too minimal lingo clear methods #I can just share snippets of what they did #although I have questions on their horse trouble shooting but still #wow I’m so impressed with this study it goes into such replicatable detail!

Traditional thinking has always been along the lines of “You should control your dog; they shouldn’t control you”. People seen to give into their dogs’ requests were told disparagingly that they were allowing their dogs to train them. Furthermore, dogs were expected to jump through all sorts of human-designed hoops before they received anything from us at all (e.g. nothing in life is free programmes). But there has thankfully been a revolution in how we raise and train dogs and one of the things we are so much more aware of these days is the importance of control when it comes to emotional wellbeing. Being able to exercise some control over things in life is empowering. Having no control over anything can lead to frustration, stress and eventually depression.So how do we ensure that our dogs do not feel helpless, frustrated, stressed or depressed? Well, we need to give them back control by opening the lines of communication and allowing them to show us what they want and need. Modern dog training focuses far more on encouraging dogs to be active participants in the training process, by reinforcing them for engaging with us, for offering behaviours, for problem solving and trying new things. This is a very different approach to traditional training, where a dog was expected to do nothing until cued and any initiative shown by the dog was frowned upon. In this sense, by making the dog an active role player in training, we are giving them back some control over the training process and allowing the dog to guide us as to how quickly we can progress from one step to the next. They are able to initiate exercises and, while we may set the environment up to encourage them to perform a certain behaviour, in many cases, from the dog’s perspective they are choosing what to do and figuring it out for themselves. As a result, the level of engagement and enthusiasm we see in dogs in our classes these days is huge in comparison to more traditional schools, even where positive reinforcement is used, but where the dogs are expected to do nothing until they are told what to do.

Should Dogs be able to give us Cues? Taryn Blyth | 15 May 2019

Oh good thought piece on ways to help dogs have more control in their lives, as part of building confidence.

I’ve made heavy use of ‘Nothing In Life is Free” type principles, definitely useful in practicing passive boundaries. But I find when I allow the dogs some controlled choice, e.g. BAT2.0 type self soothing sniffs and explorations, that they are much more mentally settled before an event.

This blog gives some more ideas on recognising when a dog is asking us for something. Plus it ties in well with the choice symbol training I’ve been trying, and failing for two days, to upload our current progress on.

#dogs #dog training #canine education #real dog training #empowering dogs #choice training #this article first caught my attention by referring to the dogs using ques on me and i was like #LOL YES! because thyme's queue is to come and stare at me #then we play a game of charades of what does this dog want?#water? food? toilet? play?#i follow him to the desired goal #it is amusing but he could use clarity in his queues to me #for the symbol training choice training my latest video is still step 5 but we are moving on to step 6 now that #i have finally got the coordination down #step 6 is to teach the differences between the symbols not yet at choice introduction aspect

Coat choice: stage 5

The next stage (stage 5) in the coat choice training is logistically very tricky for me and that really shows in our first two videos. Lots of valuable feedback from the dogs, and also how hard it is for the original researchers to write down every bit of troubleshooting they most likely needed to do for each horse!

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A post shared by ⚠️ Scared Dog Learning! ⚠️ (@thymeforthistle) on May 6, 2019 at 7:46pm PDT

My process based off these for the next session tonight is:

1. After the dogs target the sign - reward dog.

2. While dog is eating remove signs from view.

3. Then put coat on/take coat off.

4. Then have the dog either wait at a distance (command, at odds with free movement described in the methods) or toss a treat for them to go get (potential reinforcement confusion).

5. Then put up the next sign while they’re away.

This is to limit the amount of behaviours they offer between signs. This also might give them more time to notice the visual difference between the signs before targeting (notice Thistle targeted the blank wall in her enthusiasm at one point...).

Usually Thistle is not so wiggly for her coat but the treats have her excited. This makes it harder to put the coat on in a gentle manner for me. I chose these coats because of the ease to take them on and off but perhaps I should switch to our more usual velcro ones. Usually I would ask Thistle to stand, but I want to minimise the amount of obedience requirements in an exercise that is geared to teaching the dog to choose, not for me to prompt and inadvertently end up with a “clever hans” effect.

If it is not obvious we have a rainy cloud for “coat please!” and a sunny sun for “naked time!”.