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Status: Unbearably sad for the loss of our human sister, Laura.
status/mood updated 57 days ago
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My Blog Entry
Training 101 for Your Human
This is for canine eyes only - please do NOT let your humans read this.
I am developing a training program for my mommy, and it is working! So I thought I would share my success story with my MDS pals. Mind you I am in the very early stages, but I have achieved astonishing success so far.
My goal is to get Mommy to do what I want, when I want her to. My strategy is to make subtle changes and then progress to bigger ones. I began with our morning routine. The way is used to go was that as soon as she wakes up (and it’s not always at the same time) she takes Zack and me into the yard so that we can go potty if we need to before our walk. Then she makes the bed, throws on some clothes, brushes her teeth and hair, puts some lotion on her face, takes her vitamins, puts her water glass away, and asks Daddy if he is ready to walk. This is the pattern for every day except Tuesday and Friday when there is the extra step of putting out the garbage.
So I began with step one. When she got up and invited Zack and me to into the yard, I pretended to still be sleeping. Much to my surprise, she took Zack into the yard, came in, made the bed, etc. I tried that for several days and she let me sleep in. So then I took it to the next level. After she and Zack went into the yard and came back inside and she went to make the bed, I didn’t move. Amazingly enough, she made the bed around me! I had to change locations a time or two, but she worked around me. I have done this for three days, so tomorrow I am going to add a new step: once she has made the bed, I am going to scratch on the sliding door to tell her I now want to go potty in the yard.
You might be wondering what the big deal is about the changes I have trained her to make, and the answer is that there is no big deal. That’s the beauty of my method. I am getting her used to doing as I ask about things that don’t really matter, so that when I get to the things that do matter she will be trained to do as I request.
There is one important thing I forgot to mention. I use lots of positive reinforcement. The days she let me sleep in, I made a big deal of wagging and kissing her when she and Zack came back inside. The days she made the bed around me, I again gave her lots of kisses and wagged like crazy. These rewards are a very important component of her training.
I will keep you informed as to how the training progresses. If any of you want to try my method, please do. And let me know how it goes for you. If we unite, together we can change the expression "Cats rule, dogs drool" to "Dogs Rule" (who cares what the cats are doing).
Approximately 30 days later
I (Quincy) have had an important breakthrough in training my human. It has to do with communication. Her inability to understand my vocalizations has been aggravating me for some time now. Despite the fact that I have put forth the effort to learn her language and can recognize and respond to many words and phrases, she has not put forth the effort to understand mine. I know she can tell the difference between the sounds I make, because she comments "that's his big boy bark" or or "that's his baby sound" or (my least favorite) "he sounds like a chicken." But she is clueless as to what the different barks mean and doesn't try figure it out.
So here's my breakthrough: whenever I want something - and it could be anything - I go and scratch on one of the many sliding glass doors in our house. First she tries opening the door to let me out. If I don't go out, she tries to figure out what I want. She checks the water bowl to make sure we have water, she looks to see if one of my duckies is missing, she looks to see if Zack is teasing me, she gives me a cuddle, etc. If it's meal time and she hasn't yet fed us, she gets the food! This is what I call real progress!
Wags,
Quincy
Blog Barks
Quincy, we are on the same page. I do not think our methods are that different...positive reinforcement, the ranked list of communication possibilities (it's crucial to get them used to the idea of checking everything)...and above all, getting them to think everything is their idea.
My human getting slightly spacier every year, I do need to do some "direct signals". When I bring the air conditioner remote, she makes it cooler. When I bring my towel, she dries me off (I had to revise the old technique, barking when we came in from the rain, because she didn't understand! Even bright humans have limits.) When I bark once, she checks the Euke bowl, which is always supposed to contain food.
When she puts my brush where I can find it, I'll get it so she can brush me. She is learning, even at her advanced age, that if I nudge her and move to the place the brush may have been placed, she needs to brush me.
When she is doing this, I have trained her to say, "You want it where?" This conditioned her to brush me on the part of my body extended towards the brush. I'll stretch my neck, or turn around, or present my tail. Then I sit and extend first one front leg, then the other, so she can do a good job. (I understand that some human groomers have conditioned their human groomees to do the same thing.)
Remember, humans desperately want to please, so make it easy for them to understand what they're supposed to do, how you want it done, and provide plenty of positive reinforcement.
Your friend, Junior
89 days ago by gwyneth
That, Quincy, is indeed progress. You should reward these behaviors to encourage their repetition. You know the philosophy of rewarding the proper behavior, ignoring the bad. When your mom finally figures out what your sounds mean, make a big deal out of her achievement by maybe giving a few extra kisses and wiggles.
Astrid
279 days ago by Astrid
It is amazing how your mommy has progressed in such a short period of time, Quincy! Mind if I employ some of these methods myself? I've tried some basic training with my mom, but she just hasn't taken to it. I think I've tried to make too big of changes just too soon. I like your method of barely perceptible behavior changes. I have had only some successes with my rather heavy pawed methods so far. I have come from nothing.....I mean absolutely nothing a year ago in the shelter to having my mom think I cannot live without a private room at sleep away camp with my own TV. I'd like to work on convincing her that I'm ready to walk to the shopping center down the street that looks like a little village to sit on the bench and that if and when I graduate from Best Friends Day Camp that I need to go on to Chesterbrook Day. Any advice you can give would be much appreciated and congratulations, again, on your mommy's training.
Kisses,
Astrid
301 days ago by Astrid
Haha, i've been training Mommy (and Daddy when i spend time with him) since i got home last year, and it has done wonders for me... :) our morning routine used to be mommy get up (brush teeth, get dressed, etc), take me out for my walk...
NOW: Mommy wakes up (i wait until she puts her glasses on to wake up myself) then she brushes her teeth, and then she asks where my leash is (she's the one who put it away...gosh) and she puts it on, and we go for our walk... :)
YorkiePower: Molding our humans one step at a time :)
303 days ago by NicoleMarcelle
Quincy,
You are such a clever dog! Keep up the good work!!
Buster
P.S. I've been training Shooz too, but shhhh! she hasn't figured it out yet.
303 days ago by antshooz
Three of us like to go out....then, right after mom plops down to wake up (after feeding cats, mindlessly swiffering, etc) to have her first sip of java, the OTHER two of us beg to go out. We don't call them HS (human slaves) for nothin'! The AusSiebelts
303 days ago by TinaValant
Quincy,
You are sure one clever pup. I think I will be trying a little training on my Mom. If nothing else it sounds like fun just to mess with her routine a little.
Keep up the good work.
Woof,
Bentley
304 days ago by Reid
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