Thursday, September 06, 2012

Training Azza 8

I was worried that a month with Upul would set Azza back in her training. He is really good about following my instructions (he doesn't let her jump on him too much and he makes her sit at doorways). Still, he lets her get away with a lot more than I do.

Her leash behavior did degrade a bit but this will probably be an ongoing training project just like it is for Mimi. Otherwise, she didn't seem to develop too many bad habits while I was gone. (The cats are another problem altogether. It turns out that Upul gives them dog treats too each time he leaves. Now the annoying beasts expect them from me as well!)

So I'm really excited to report a huge breakthrough in Azza's training. I have been seeing signs of her new learning for the past week or so as the dogs and I re-establish our routines at home but this morning she was putting it all together in a way that tells me that she truly has learned some new skills.

I make an effort to play with the dogs regularly and they have begun to expect, even to anticipate, when I am going to start a game of "baby." I generically call all dog toys "baby" (it's either creepy or sad, take your pick) and I refer to a game of fetch as "let's play baby!" I usually speak to my dogs in short but complete sentences using more or less adult language so I don't know where this came from. Nonetheless, the word "baby" has become a trigger for displays of extreme excitement from all three dogs that includes bouncing, pulling random babies from the various storage baskets, whining, etc.

The baby game itself is simple. I sit on a low stool at one end of my living room and I throw a toy to the other end for one dog at a time. To avoid collisions, I time each throw carefully. The game works best if each dog brings his toy back directly to me. There is always a mass of dogs and toys at my feet. They seem to handle this very well since one rule of the game is that no stealing is allowed!

Harry and Mimi have always had strong toy preferences. They will play with any toy I give them but they prefer specific, individual toys. When I say the magic word, if they haven't already done so, they run to get their favorites from the baskets.

All my terriers have had mad toy drive that I only had to shape a bit. With Azza, it's been a different experience. I've had to shape her interest in toys as well as the behaviors. I never formally made a lesson plan to teach Azza these behaviors. Instead, I gradually introduced them and repeated them over many, many sessions of play that always includes the other two dogs. The behaviors include chasing a thrown toy, returning a thrown toy to me, dropping a toy on command, and tugging on command. There is one more behavior that is somewhat secondary to toy play but that is pretty important in my opinion: the dog needs to learn to move in the direction that I point.

Let me explain this one a bit more. Thrown toys don't always land where I intend them to. They might fall behind something. Dogs can get distracted and not see me throw the toy or fail to see where it lands. It disrupts the flow of the game if I have to get up to retrieve a lost toy. I teach all my dogs to find their toys by moving in the direction that I point. I also teach them a verbal "out" command which means keep moving farther away in that direction. This is a very complex behavior that includes a willingness on the dog's part to move away from me without an obvious reward in the offing (the toy is initially hidden although they learn that it is out there somewhere). It also requires the dog to observe my body position and movement (outstretched arm, pointing finger) and read meaning and intent into this very non-canine action. Many dogs have to be taught this behavior.

There is no doubt that Azza is learning partly by watching the other two dogs and imitating them. But she is also learning directly through the mechanisms of conditional reinforcement. If she does something I like, I reward it. If she does something I don't like, I either ignore it or I let her know I don't like that, but in either case I don't reward it. And from the beginning, Azza's rewards have only been a continuation of play with me. I had to first shape playing with me so that she found it rewarding before I could expand the game and start throwing toys for her. In this way she learned the rules of tug. She is happy to tug with me even while the other two dogs are chasing thrown toys. But I wanted her to be able to retrieve toys too.

This morning, as usual, I selected a toy for Azza to use in the baby game. To my complete surprise, after a couple of throws, she selected a different toy to continue the game. That's a huge leap forward for her. I'm not talking about refusing to play with a toy, or changing toys with every throw. She chose a toy that she has played with before and stuck with her choice for the rest of the game. She now knows that she has the freedom to make those kinds of choices for herself, and that I will honor them.

Usually, she brings the toys back halfway, flops down on a dog bed or the floor to chew on them, and only comes to me when I call her. The first hundred times, she came to me but left the toy behind. I had to teach her the command "bring it" which I use with Mimi too. This week, Azza has been enthusiastically running all the way back to me, slamming her body into my leg, and pressing the toy towards my face or my hand. Another huge leap forward! I have become the source of rewards for her! Both Harry and Mimi do this and I'm sure Azza noticed how much praise I give them when they do.

She flings herself after her toy, giant paws flapping, and flings herself back. Enthusiasm all the way, and for the duration of the game. When I first introduced her to the baby game, she'd chase the toy a couple of times and then stop. Now, she will do it 20 or 30 times, just like the terriers.

Finally, near the end of the game this morning, I threw her toy and she didn't see me do it. She was looking around my feet for her toy so I showed her my empty hands then I pointed to where her toy had landed and said "get it!" She stopped, looked in the direction I was pointing, and launched herself for her toy. Another huge success! This was a deliberate behavior on her part, not random.

I suppose that I am most pleased at the fact that all of this has happened entirely within the context of play. I probably did make a formal plan in my head but I never set out with a goal along the lines of "today I will teach her to drop toys on command." I of course knew the behaviors I wanted her to learn and I have managed to be patient enough to let her discover them in her own time.

1 comment:

oldgraymare said...

Hurrah for the newest granddog! It's so good to hear that Azza's progressing in a postive way.