More on Jilly Bean....

I have been helping to teach a detection class the past week so I am behind on my posts. However this is part 2 of my posts on Jill's current training. For now we are working on competition obedience. Do I have any plans or thoughts on competing? Not really, we will see what happens. It is more to focus on another avenue of training and currently works with my schedule. It also doesnt conflict with her full time job as my official running partner. She ran 5 miles with me yesterday and that girl can run forever!! She gets in a groove and has a smooth efficient ground eating trot. Must be all that running with the german shepherd....

Anyway...back to obedience....

I mentioned last time that Jill is very toy crazy. The sight of a toy creates spins and jumps and overall craziness. Good for drive but potentially challenging to get precision when it come to working. What has worked very well with Jill is an extremely effective technique of defining the reinforcement zone(s) before any learning occurs. We do this when we train our detection dogs. There is no reason for the dog to think that a certain odor has any significance. We pair the reward and the odor in the dog's mind prior to setting the dog up to actually do anything.  We put the dog in a position to smell the odor AND get a high value reward.  This is done through shaping the environment, NOT just letting the dog wander into a place where they smell the odor. Once the reinforcement zone has been established (the place where the odor is) we then get out of their way and let the dog self teach themselves how to get the reward. It is very effective and exactly how I am training Jill's obedience.

In her case the reinforcement zones are heel position and front position. Using both food and toys I have created these places where she can expect reinforcement. This was done BEFORE I actually asked her to do anything - or actually to be more accurate before I asked her to actually think while doing something. In this manner I can let her get crazy drive, just like we do with our drug dogs, and she knows where to go to get that reinforcement/reward that she so badly wants. As a result I dont have a decrease in drive caused either by her uncertainty or my having to show her something or direct her. It also makes the work a lot more fun for her and she is more confident and she does not need help or information from me.

Is she perfect? Well no not yet. But I am very happy with her progress and even more happy that she is keeping all the drive and personality that I love about her as she develops skill.

Hopefully within the next few days I will be able to put together a few training videos....