Monday, February 18, 2013

Training Azza 15

It's always a pleasure to realize that you've trained your dog to do something through everyday, casual actions instead of specific training events. Or put another way, to realize that your everyday actions are for the most part training events.

A good example of this is Azza and toys. I taught her to play with toys but I always did this during play sessions with the terriers so toy training was always in the context of toy play. She will now reliably fetch a good variety of toys. She will vigorously tug, growling and shaking her head, and will drop and take toys on command. But I realized just this past week that she's also got another useful toy skill: she returns toys to my hand.

I taught Harry this many years ago out of desperation when he wouldn't come back to me after getting the ball during flyball. "Put it in my hand!" will cause him to firmly shove whatever toy he has into my open hand. If I don't offer a hand, he will shove it into my lap.

As I was playing with the dogs a couple of weeks back, I noticed that when Azza was returning to me after chasing her toy, I was holding my hand out to her without saying anything. It was an automatic response after years of doing it with Harry. But I spend so much time training Azza that I guess she figures anything I do may possibly be a command for her and thus an opportunity for a reward. So she shoves her toy into my hand!

Pretty good trick for a feral dog.

She also learned a new trick last week. I say "trick" but I consider the ability to catch thrown food to be a useful skill for a dog.

I've tossed bits to her now and then but typically they just bounced off her head and Mimi would get them before they hit the floor. I figured it was time to get Azza sorted out on the concept.

I keep popcorn around even though I only eat it a few times a year because it is a good training tool for some behaviors. It is easy to throw with some accuracy, the pieces are large and visible on different flooring types, and it is tasty. One of the skills I always teach with popcorn is catching thrown food.

Azza was quite successful at this game, figuring it out after perhaps ten or so misses. She's become quite accurate and can now catch smaller things like dog treats that are harder to see.

An interesting corollary is that she has caught thrown toys a few times since. I have to throw them with just the right arc so that they come down on top of her head, but the new part is that she is trying to catch them at all. She usually lets them drop to the floor then picks them up.

Her social skills continue to expand and strengthen. She's always have freaky deaky fear behaviors but I knew that even before I started this experiment.

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