Trick of the Week: Close the Door!

[TuffStuff]

He seems to think he has to spin before he can close the door. Other than that, he's doing great. He had it figured out before I could even start the second session. I guess that's the effect of being crated all day. lol

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/g4VJkZcEDOA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Southpaw]

I love Frodo! And how lightning fast he takes off when you toss the treats lol.

Juno already knew this trick at some point but it's been a super duper long time since I've asked for it. And, we have only done it with kitchen cabinets, not "real" doors that actually need some force to be pushed shut.

To jog her memory I started out just having her target a post-it on the door, but she re-learned it all pretty quickly.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-MXvWUW8lAI?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mU-3NUsnrvM?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[sassafras]

He seems to think he has to spin before he can close the door. Other than that, he's doing great. He had it figured out before I could even start the second session. I guess that's the effect of being crated all day. lol

He has nothing to do all day but think about closing that dang door!


I now have a drawer-closing dog. Sometimes he will just walk over to it and hit it with his nose.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U-Q3w6X1Ha0?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


I love how at the end of this, he does it while I'm barely paying attention because I was about to turn the camera off.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gPotxJ9rv6M?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


And then he got bored and randomly threw this in, lol.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AF_MQtb-4UA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Finkie_Mom]

OMG everyone's dogs are awesome.

Zinga is SO smart!!! Bamm and Fleetwood have got it down

Squash and Boone are just amazing. I love Frodo <3

And Juno is so cute.

 

[Brattina88]

And heeeeere's Bailey
I think I finally worked out all of my camera issues lol

<object width="420" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AfFEhcQr2nE?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AfFEhcQr2nE?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

 

[sassafras]

Bailey looks great!

Man, Juno are Frodo are so adorable.

I think in the past I have been far too impatient to really give shaping a fair shake. Because this video was preceded by 10 minutes of Pip literally just sitting and staring at me - even when I tried to cheat and draw his attention to the drawer - before he so much as glanced at the drawer. But man, once the light bulb goes off... there's no stopping them. This was maybe 5 minutes after his first glance at it.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sTE1YVHDS6k?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Linds]

So I avoided watching anyone's video's before now because I wanted to do it without any idea of how you guys were doing it or any time frame they should get it in since I was going to up the hardness on this one for all three of us.

One thing I don't do often is anything that has the dogs walking away from me and not facing me. It's just something we haven't really done and so this door thing was hard. But I decided I was going to sit away from the doors/cabinets and make it so they would have to walk away from me or face away from me to really get it. Both Traveler and Didgie were like "Back up on things? Leg lifts? Sit pretty and head flip? SPIN!" and it took awhile for them to get the actively moving away from me. Probably didn't help the first cabinet I used doesn't shut and instead bounces back and hits them and that to train it I used three different doors in three different rooms and a cabinet so that they had to generalize and do it fast before understanding.

Ok, I may have been converted from "shaping's a pretty cool technique" to "OMG SHAPING" in a single trick. Since I didn't think I'd be stellar at luring this, I decided what the heck, I'd try shaping even though I'm not stellar at it.

YAY! Once you get started it gets addicting


Sara, Zinga makes me laugh so hard watching her. THIS! YOU WANT THIS! HOW ABOUT THIS! I loved the back feet on everything. She got it so fast!!

Taq, I love watching Tipper work. She's such a goof. Also like the "That's my finger." Hate it and it happens ALL THE TIME.

She very much got the "You want me to poke it!" very fast. But she started like Traveler in the sense that it was a nose brush, not a hard poke.

Brattina, Maddie is so LITTLE! I didn't know she was that small. What a little girl. I love her opening it, my two where both doing that. She hits it nice and hard too.

I also like Bailey's "Oh, you want me to shut it. Why didn't you just say so?" and instant understanding of it.

PW, you are SO right about the "Lesson in Generalization" I've used three doors and a cabinet to teach this so far.

I'm giggling how fast he runs at the treats. Slow touch and then TREATS!!!! He's getting it though! Doing really good!

Jes, have I told you how much I love Boone? He's like "I will push you into the hall doorknob with my nose and part of my lip!" Also I was waiting for the poor cat to get slammed in the door.

I like how fast you were able o go to an open door.

Sass, you could just post video's of Squash all day. Nothing makes me happier. He just lights up everything. And he sure looks like he's having a ball closing things!

And Pip is just adorable! "I'm poking things and getting food! Poke! Food! YAY!" he looks like he's enjoying this one a lot!

 

[Linds]

And here's Didgie video. I just kinda mashed the training sessions together, took parts from it. For the end result of where we are now just go to the endish.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Bo7xPp2T6nU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[TuffStuff]

I love watching all of these videos! Everyone is doing so great!

 

[Brattina88]

Brattina, Maddie is so LITTLE! I didn't know she was that small. What a little girl. I love her opening it, my two where both doing that. She hits it nice and hard too.

I also like Bailey's "Oh, you want me to shut it. Why didn't you just say so?" and instant understanding of it.

Thanks! Yea Maddie is more of the size a cocker is supposed to be lol... we see so many HUGE ones in the rescue! Everyone's doing so well! We are working on generalization more now... Its hard to video - maybe I need a tripod for Christmas! lol

I hate seeing myself on video but I am really loving this, I see where my timing could've been better and what I am doing wrong -- I also love being able to watch over again the different learning styles of my two girls. And ideas from you all. Maddie instantly was using her paw, and Bailey her nose. Often times, Bailey is too fast for me. When I was teaching spin, the preferred going in different directions. Loving this!

 

[Beanie]

Okay Bailey is obviously a genius LOL.

I love everybody's videos. I love the random spins and sit pretty and other tricks thrown in. It just makes me smile.

I want you all to know that halfway through this video I looked in front of me and realized my closet door wasn't closed, and thought "I hope the camera isn't angled to pick up my laundry... nah... surely it can't see that." Sure enough, plugged the camera in and imported the video and THERE IS MY BRA hanging right there. Nice. *resizes video*

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BSA8hZEzczk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Auggie is easy at this one since it's his natural reaction to the clicker to run around and hit things with his paws. Payton is surprisingly difficult, he doesn't seem to know exactly what I want. He seems to think it might be a head toss at the door or maybe pivot into the door? On the upside, Pepper is doing far better than expected with it.

 

[Catsi]

Love catching up with these videos!

Love the high rate of reinforcement with Tipper... he is really getting it.

I laughed so much at Zinga's closing the door with her back leg!

SkKi - Pit is awesome! I love the happy Sammy grin through the door too.

Omg - Fleetwood is just so polished! I love him.

Lol, I'm had many a conversation with Abby - 'You've already eaten it. Seriously I'm not lying. I saw you.' *sigh* Frodo is just adorable - I love his mad dash for treats too!

Boone is looking fantastic. I swear he is a natural showman - the way he prances to close the door... I could almost see him in a top hat and taking a bow. Go Boone!

Juno looks great! I enjoyed watching the progression as you took a refresher course in door closing.

Squash is just terrific! Pip is having so much fun. I'm so glad you are enjoying the shaping.

Maddie and Bailey are looking great. Such high rates of reinforcement for both. Love that they worked out how to go around a more open door.

Didgie is awesome... love the progression. I love how willing and confident she is in offering alternative behaviours.

Beanie - the crew are looking great and having so much fun. I laughed so much when Pepper dove through the door lol.

This one is proving to be difficult for myself and Abby. Funny, because I didn't think it'd be so bad because she quite enjoys targeting. However, I'm having a few issues -
- Noise sensitivity - most of my drawers bang, my doors squeak or bang. Have been working on just playing around with the doors/drawers, opening, closing and rewarding. There is one cupboard that I didn't think to try in the dining room - I'll give that one a go as well tomorrow.
- Heavy drawers/soft touches - all my drawers seem to be on the heavy side. Abby's touch at the moment is feather light. I've been using a round target that I can stick on the shut door/cupboard but have also been picking it up and getting her to touch it in my hand which usually elicits a harder touch.
- it seems I still need to build value for the target
So I've been working on all this separately. I've been filming probably half of our sessions, but you guys really don't need to be subjected to it at this stage. It would make for some fairly boring and frustrating viewing.

On a better note, Abby is offering spin as a default behaviour almost now lol. So pleased. It's now going on cue - for once I have managed to resist naming a behaviour until I was really happy.
Sit pretty is coming along too, albeit a bit more slowly. Still trying to build up the strength and have swapped the chuck-it target for my hand because it was hindering my placement.

 

[sassafras]

Watching the sheltie trio, I just really love how they work... they're so dynamic, even when they aren't so sure what you're getting at. My dogs are all very... sedate lol. It's cool to just see different dogs working through the puzzle.

And Pip is just adorable! "I'm poking things and getting food! Poke! Food! YAY!" he looks like he's enjoying this one a lot!

He is so funny... when he very first started to catch on, he was real suspicious and did it real slow, like... "I should do.... this? Really. Okaaaaaay then." And then all of the sudden he got all OMG THIS MAKES TREATS HAPPEN.

ETA: I'm really struggling with Maisy with this one, though. I want to shape it, but because we have practiced SO much attention (she is obsessed and slightly reactive to other dogs in a class setting so we practice constantly during "down time" whenever she's in a class) that so far she is defaulting to laying down and watching me and so far I can't seem to crack that.

 

[Taqroy]

Okay, I had watched NONE of the videos yet (tapatalk ftl) so this is going to be a mish mash.

He kept trying to target the camera.
Then Whiskey knocked our whole key bucket off the counter cause he's a jerk lol

Frodo is hilarious and awesome and CLEARLY related to Tipper. The first thing she does every session is go poke the camera. I think she likes to make me squeak.

Also, in your second video I love Frodo's OMG MUST RUN TO GET TREAT and then *ninja stealth walk to sticky note*. LOL.

Here's Boone's first session:

I freaking love Boone.

After a break, we came back to it, and it was like someone flipped a switch! I know I'm not really supposed to say anything at all, but I am weak. Anyway, BEHOLD.

Latent learning is one of the coolest things ever. Tipper will go from "I have no idea what you're talking about" to "Oh that? Psh I got that." If I let it sit for awhile. It's amazing.

Also, I talk a lot during shaping. /shrug My dogs still get it so I consider it a win. Squash is super cute btw.

Taq, I love watching Tipper work. She's such a goof. Also like the "That's my finger." Hate it and it happens ALL THE TIME.

She very much got the "You want me to poke it!" very fast. But she started like Traveler in the sense that it was a nose brush, not a hard poke.

She's so much fun to work with when she's not just sitting there barking. She's still not poking the doors very hard. I think for polishing work I'll use a tug on this - she gets much more violent when there's tugging involved.

And here's Didgie video. I just kinda mashed the training sessions together, took parts from it. For the end result of where we are now just go to the endish.

<3 Didgie. And your training voice.

ETA: I'm really struggling with Maisy with this one, though. I want to shape it, but because we have practiced SO much attention (she is obsessed and slightly reactive to other dogs in a class setting so we practice constantly during "down time" whenever she's in a class) that so far she is defaulting to laying down and watching me and so far I can't seem to crack that.

ALL of my early shaping session with Murphy were like that. I actually gave up trying to shape anything and just started clicking for ANY movement - ear flicks, paw movements, eye movement, whatever. We played 101 things with a box for a loooong time too. And I cheated a lot in the beginning. I'd move around the box to encourage him to move (if I stop moving he just lays and stares) and I talked a lot. I also threw treats every which way so that I could click him for movement coming back. It took awhile but he's really good at shaping now - I'm still learning how he works though so I'm holding us back.

I did watch everyone's video - I lurve them all, I just don't want this post to take up half a page. Lol.

 

[SaraB]

Finally getting caught up on watching the videos!!

Maddie is tiny! I love her size, and she's smart as a whip!

Bailey did awesome too, caught on so fast.

Frodo is funny. I too lose sight of a post-it note when it's moved slightly. It's like a freaking game of peek-a-boo.

I want a self-opening door like in Boone's video!! I also like how it reopens itself when he's busy eating his treat and then he turns around and is like "Whaaaaa?! I shut you! STAY CLOSED DOOR!"

I want to believe that Juno's boxer nose helps with this behavior. I felt that my girls' pointy noses would become dented and mashed if I asked them to just do a nose touch. If only I had a squishy nosed dog my door would be free from scratches.

Squash and Pip did sooo good! I like Squash's deliberate nose touch and how he holds it there for a second. Shaping is so cool in the way you talked about, it may take a while to get a behavior, but once you do it's amazing!

Didgie is so like Zinga, they even close doors the same way.

The sheltie trio looks fantastic!! I think it's Payton (The first one?) that was adorable trying to paw your knee over and over again and then glance randomly at the door at first. <3 them.

 

[PWCorgi]

Argh! Just did a session with the door and was all like "I'm not gonna tape it cause this is going to take forever" and Frodo walks over and closes the door >.<

And the ONLY time Frodo moves fast is chasing treats :rofl1:

Now I need to go back and watch the last couple videos!! OMG I love this trick a week game so much!!

 

[SaraB]

Argh! Just did a session with the door and was all like "I'm not gonna tape it cause this is going to take forever" and Frodo walks over and closes the door >.<

HATE THAT!!! Now go get it on video!

 

[PWCorgi]

I love Bailey, she's just like oh, you want me to close this? Done!

I adore how within like 30 seconds of Didgie's video she had offered every single week's trick so far!

And Pip's gentle *nudge* *nudge* in comparison to Squash's Godzilla paws

Frodo is funny. I too lose sight of a post-it note when it's moved slightly. It's like a freaking game of peek-a-boo.

I know, common problem :lol-sign:

 

[sassafras]

I know, right? Yesterday I thought "Oh I'll practice some more with Pip" and he immediately SLAMMED the drawer shut like three times in a row. So I went to get the camera and then it was all coy nose brushes and huffing.

 

[PWCorgi]

I know, right? Yesterday I thought "Oh I'll practice some more with Pip" and he immediately SLAMMED the drawer shut like three times in a row. So I went to get the camera and then it was all coy nose brushes and huffing.

I know, I just tried to take video of Frodo and he shut the door once and then decided he was scared of the sound, so now he will only very very gently touch the door, so that it won't close and make the scary sound. Ahhh, dogs.