Coba training!

[summer_jackel]

Long rambling dog-geekery; feel free to skip over if this isn't your thing.

I just made the homeliest jump ever: a PVC pipe duct taped between two old plastic flowerpot stanchions. It took me about a minute to make it and about three to teach Coba to jump it. He definitely associated the "jump" command with what he's supposed to do; this isn't the first time he's been introduced to the concept, but it's the first time I've done it in awhile, and his best performance so far. He does really well when he is positioned squarely on one side and I am squarely on the other, less so when either of us start more than a few feet away from the jump or on a diagonal to it. These will come with time; I kept the session short and fun. The jump is also lower than it will be in the ring, but height can come later.

What this is all for, of course, other than it just being fun to train one's housefox to do entertaining things as well as being good diversion for an active little mind, is that I am starting to look seriously at what's needed for Open level obedience competition. It seems likely, knock on wood, that Coba earns his Novice title of Companion Dog either this month or next, and it would be pretty cool if he was ready to enter Open classes next summer. Ergo, train the dog now.

We have a way to go.

The article above summarizes that "Open Class involves 7 exercises: Heel Free and a Figure 8 (off leash), a Drop on Recall, Retrieve on Flat, Retrieve over High Jump, Broad Jump, and Group Exercises: a 3 minute sit stay and a 5 minutes down stay with the handler out of sight of the dog." Coba's heel free/figure 8 is getting pretty snappy, to the point where I'm hoping that, at least if he's in the mood, we are going to look pretty good in our upcoming Novice appearances. His Drop on Recall is good enough for the ring now, and his stays with me out of sight are coming along well enough. That's proving easier to train than I thought (of course I introduced it last winter). This leaves the jumps and retrieves.

Jumping should be easy enough to train; he already has a good attitude about it, and it's only a matter of time and repetition to build confidence. If his jumping gets as snappy as his recalls are now, he is going to be just adorable.

Which leaves us with the retrieve, Coba's least favorite idea in the world. This is a dog who doesn't even want to pick up (any) toy and bring it to me while enthusiastically playing. I've gotten him to the point where he will hold a plastic dumbbell toy when I put it in his mouth, change positions (sit to down to stand and back) and perform short recalls without dropping it, though his opinion of the exercise is eloquent. I try to use the best rewards for this, things like tastes of canned food he only gets for this exercise, but I haven't seen his 'tude improve yet. There's no hint that he will willingly take the object into his mouth, and I that's our biggest hurdle: convincing Coba to pick up that distasteful foreign object---the horror!

I am thinking of training with something much lighter, like a piece of fabric or leather, to begin with. Perhaps I'll use a glove, as the directed fetching of gloves comes up in Utility, and he might find them less objectionable than a plastic dummy. His moving stands are quite good, btw, as are many of his non-verbal commands, and I honestly think that the most difficult thing I will have to teach Coba in terms of obedience competition may be the one I'm starting to work on right now.

As soon as he'll pick up something, anything, on command, the rest is time and fine-tuning. Given Coba's reluctance and sensitivity, it may take awhile, but with consistency, short, positive sessions and the nastiest dog food I can find (from my POV, anyway) we should eventually get it.

...I hope.

Comments

[cphoenix.livejournal.com]

Is it possible he could be trained to fetch dog biscuits? We know he likes having food in his mouth. Train him not to eat them before you say, and then to mouth them without eating them, and then to fetch them.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a good idea, although I'm not certain how well it would work with Coba. One issue compounding training this is that he dislikes having food in his mouth that he isn't allowed to eat almost or as much as he dislikes handling an object. He does know 'wait' at food, and I have done the 'hold a treat on your muzzle until I say' trick (usually as a result of him snapping at food), but this is another training area where he isn't naturally enthusiastic. I hate to add one 'challenge area' to another.

I have tried rubbing butter and canned dog food on an item, and he seems more likely to drop it and try to lick it than if the thing isn't tasty, so I've really separated the food from the behavior. I'm thinking of getting a chamois and cutting it into small strips, which he may want to play with and chew on when we aren't training...something that a dog likes in his mouth, but isn't food. Coba is a picky little thing!

[cphoenix.livejournal.com]

What if you taught him to hold his mouth open until you told him to close it, and then after he learned that, you placed food in his mouth that he could eat as soon as you let him close it? This might get him used to the idea of deferred gratification - "You can eat this food, just not yet."

Perhaps just train him on the "open" and then do a "hand in the lion's mouth" trick - let him know you don't like him closing his mouth on your hand. You don't have to touch his mouth. How would he feel about that? Then, when he's good at that, use your hand to place food in his mouth and let him eat it right away... or at least as soon as you pull your hand out, which you can slowly extend.

I don't fully understand dog emotions, but it seems like this might be a way to give him the experience that *something* in the deferred-food area could be fun and rewarding, and then expand from there.

Does his breathing change when he has something in his mouth? Perhaps he feels like he's choking or short of breath. I know I dislike brushing and flossing my teeth for a similar reason - my breathing changes enough to increase my CO2 load a bit, and by now, the vague unpleasant feeling is probably self-reinforcing - the anticipatory tension makes my breathing change even more.

If this is the case, perhaps a very different size or format of object might help. Or perhaps a different exercise - put your snout where I indicate. Gnaw where I indicate. Something to get him using his mouth without holding stuff in it.

How does he do with food near him that he's not allowed to eat yet? A down-stay with his dinner in his bowl, for example?

[smile-n-cuddle.livejournal.com]

So cool! :)