Trick of the Week: Bow!
- Thread starter Linds
- Start date
Ughhh I'm so angry. I videoed our first session today (we jumped in late!) and I was off by a bit, so you can't really see anything 
I'll post it, but I'm sooo frustrated.
This was only like his second time shaping (we did it for back up but that was like 6 months ago) and he picked it up so fast. I'm not really sure how he even picked it up, as he went straight from me clicking for looking down into doing a full out bow.
I wanted to watch the video to see what happened, but noooo.
I'll post it, but I'm sooo frustrated. This was only like his second time shaping (we did it for back up but that was like 6 months ago) and he picked it up so fast. I'm not really sure how he even picked it up, as he went straight from me clicking for looking down into doing a full out bow.
I wanted to watch the video to see what happened, but noooo.
So, I didn't take any video because I don't have an easy way to video. And I hate seeing myself on video. BUT, I worked with Abrams today (my first day off this week...) on "bow" and I am super happy with his progress!
I teach best via lure/reward, so that is what we did. I had him stand, then lured him in to a "down" while I held my other hand under his groin so he wouldn't lay down all of the way, but keep his butt in the air. Rewarded the movement down, then released him. I figured out after a few repetitions that it was awkward for him and I both to have my other hand underneath him, so I grabbed a yard stick to use as a barrier instead. A rough start with that ("WTF are you holding underneath me, mom?"), but then he got it. Once he was consistently "bowing" with the yardstick serving as a reminder to keep his butt up, I added the cue word "bow" and rapid fed him treats while he held the position. Our last three bows I removed the yard stick and only had to tap him gently on his belly to remind him to keep his butt up.
Next step will be to fade out the prop and the lure! Just need to figure out what hand gesture I want to associate with it. It will need to be completely different than my "down" gesture or he's sure to get confused. Maybe I'll do a little wave of my hand like people do before they bow on stage. LOL I'm not *too* worried about him getting the words confused as he 99% goes off of hand gestures. Michael was getting frustrated that Abrams would down when he said "sit" and he finally asked me what hand gesture I used for down. Turns out when he said "sit" he'd gesture for down and Abrams would down. That's been remedied and now his sits and downs are back to being snappy and not confused.
I'll just have to be sure to snap it out like I do "sit" (bow!) and not drag out the ow noise like I do for down (booow).
I teach best via lure/reward, so that is what we did. I had him stand, then lured him in to a "down" while I held my other hand under his groin so he wouldn't lay down all of the way, but keep his butt in the air. Rewarded the movement down, then released him. I figured out after a few repetitions that it was awkward for him and I both to have my other hand underneath him, so I grabbed a yard stick to use as a barrier instead. A rough start with that ("WTF are you holding underneath me, mom?"), but then he got it. Once he was consistently "bowing" with the yardstick serving as a reminder to keep his butt up, I added the cue word "bow" and rapid fed him treats while he held the position. Our last three bows I removed the yard stick and only had to tap him gently on his belly to remind him to keep his butt up.
Next step will be to fade out the prop and the lure! Just need to figure out what hand gesture I want to associate with it. It will need to be completely different than my "down" gesture or he's sure to get confused. Maybe I'll do a little wave of my hand like people do before they bow on stage. LOL I'm not *too* worried about him getting the words confused as he 99% goes off of hand gestures. Michael was getting frustrated that Abrams would down when he said "sit" and he finally asked me what hand gesture I used for down. Turns out when he said "sit" he'd gesture for down and Abrams would down. That's been remedied and now his sits and downs are back to being snappy and not confused.
I'll just have to be sure to snap it out like I do "sit" (bow!) and not drag out the ow noise like I do for down (booow).
Here is our third session. Crappy internet recorder, but you can make out what is happening. Just working on getting him consistently bowing right now, as sometimes he likes to act like he's going to bow, then plop into a down. We'll work on the cue once he gets the act down.
Like I said, I am new to shaping, so criticism is welcome! I know a missed one bow because I was looking at the camera when he did it, and I think I clicked once for him going into a down, but I tried to look out for it this time. I am heavily reinforcing when he holds a bow, as I would like him to hold it until I release him. Next session will definitely be working on holding it.
(I apologize for his nails. His quicks are super long and I am working on getting them down)
[YOUTUBE]2mawVM43AH4[/YOUTUBE]
Like I said, I am new to shaping, so criticism is welcome! I know a missed one bow because I was looking at the camera when he did it, and I think I clicked once for him going into a down, but I tried to look out for it this time. I am heavily reinforcing when he holds a bow, as I would like him to hold it until I release him. Next session will definitely be working on holding it.
(I apologize for his nails. His quicks are super long and I am working on getting them down
)[YOUTUBE]2mawVM43AH4[/YOUTUBE]
YouTube hates me and I can not get on my account to upload video, but Gusto is finally starting to get the bow. It's been really hard to train. I think a combination of bad clicking (because he is so quick to carry into the down as his front end is going down) and me asking for duration before I should - which I only noticed when I was watching video. I'd get four or five click/treats, and then he'd fold the rest of the way down. New plan is 1 to 3 treats, and then throw the treat forward to release (thank you for that Sekah - worked much better than trying to give him the treat in position!).
I really want to get this one solid, because it will also function nicely as another stretch that Gusto can do on cue. He's so appalled by the idea of me manipulating his body in public, that I figure the more stretching tricks I can have on cue for him to do himself, the better!
I really want to get this one solid, because it will also function nicely as another stretch that Gusto can do on cue. He's so appalled by the idea of me manipulating his body in public, that I figure the more stretching tricks I can have on cue for him to do himself, the better!
I'm not sure Bear is physically up for bowing, so I was planning on having him back up onto a bosu ball. We've made some progress towards that, I might put some video up later.
The bosu ball was out from Bear and Pig decided it should be incorporated, so I went ahead with that because she's a little crack monkey and why not.
[YOUTUBE]N8gyiYy1CQc[/YOUTUBE]
Badger I just got lucky with, he usually stretches shortly after getting out of his crate.
[YOUTUBE]uUryNJbjeCc[/YOUTUBE]
The bosu ball was out from Bear and Pig decided it should be incorporated, so I went ahead with that because she's a little crack monkey and why not.
[YOUTUBE]N8gyiYy1CQc[/YOUTUBE]
Badger I just got lucky with, he usually stretches shortly after getting out of his crate.
[YOUTUBE]uUryNJbjeCc[/YOUTUBE]
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