Pre-training 3

I've been thinking about what our training goals should be. Coincidently, Sara over at Punkin's Patch tweeted some good ideas with this video find of Jesse the Jack Russell. Um, I can't decide if this too ambitious for Thyme or not.










Back on Planet Earth, Boomer and Maisy had their 5 minutes of clicker fun before breakfast today. Hungry dogs make very cooperative dogs!

Pre-training 2

In anticipation of our continuing clicker adventures today, I restocked my treat supply at the store yesterday. I settled on a big bag of honey nuts Cheerios. Um, ok, yes, in truth, they're not actually Cheerios, but a cheap generic brand masquerading as Cheerios. We got aLOT of animals to train here folks. Maisy, in any case, didn't care that I skimped on the brand name. To say she was eager to play the treats game would be an understatement. 

Maisy and Boomer both completed (separately) their 5 minutes of practice pairing the clicker with the treat. They also both revealed the same weaknesses in their previous training. Both did exactly what Maisy shows in her glam shot here. When I asked them to sit, each responded by lying all the way down. I think it's fair to say they are willing but a bit confused in their training to date. They both conflate 'down'  and 'sit' and respond to either by going low and submissive. If they don't get their reward, they go even lower. Today, Boomer rolled all the way over on his back when the reward wasn't immediately forthcoming, which I don't think I'd seen him do before. Though I hadn't intended to do anything more than pair the treat with the clicker today, I couldn't resist (bad trainer, must resist getting ahead of myself) trying to use the clicker to help them clear up the intended meaning of 'sit'. So they both got an additional 2 minutes or so of 'sit' commands, rewarded by both the clicker and the treat simultaneously. Both succeeded, so I don't think it will matter that I skipped ahead a bit. If they'd failed or I had confused them more, I'd be kicking myself. See this is why I'm not starting with Thyme. I know I'm not as disciplined as I need to be yet.

On a side note, the cats were pretty interested in the treats too, but decided they'd rather play with them than eat them. 

Pre-training 1

Sometimes the shortest way over an obstacle is neither over, nor through. Sometimes it requires indirect routes. Today, the first day of clicker training for Thyme aka the feral pony, I trained a dog. Two dogs actually.

Meet Boomer and Maisy. I'm starting with these two dogs (Angel, our third dog, is conspicuously absent) because they are sweet, good-tempered, and easy to get along with even without alot of training. So if my early attempts are less than stellar, at least I'm unlikely to do them much harm. This gives me room to relax and figure things out in a relatively low-stakes context. Once I truly begin with Thyme, I'd like to know what I'm doing! If the clicker training goes as well as the buzz claims, I'll use it with Angel too.

Boomer (Boomerang) is a 4 or 5-year-old German Shepherd/Golden Retriever cross, found as a stray 2 years ago. Maisy is a 7 or 8-year-old American Eskimo, adopted from a shelter 5 years ago. Both love people. Well, Boomer does. Maisy reserves her love for her family. They are both generally rambunctious and unruly. They've had informal training around a small number of commands, including 'sit', 'stay', and 'leave it'. They are modestly successful at these. One challenge in the dogs' training is that my 11-year-old tends to untrain whatever I teach. For this reason, my 11-year-old will not be privy to the early stages of training logged here. It's going to be a secret for now, conducted in stolen moments and the dark of night. Shhhhhhhhhhhh! No, really, I'll be working on it during the day while the 11-year-old is at school. :)

Today, on Day 1, Boomer and Maisy each separately got 2-3 minutes of training with a clicker. I paired the click with broken bits of frosted mini-wheats. Both thought this was the best game ever. Both sat very attentively and eagerly to receive their treats. Neither paid any particular attention to the clicker.  After the 2-3 minutes were up, I put the clicker away in its box on the shelf and left everything for tomorrow. I'll have to go to the store for more treats, 'cause we're out of mini-wheats.

Thyme's Preamble

It's time.

Time to train Thyme.

Thyme is the mother of Tyche. I generally refer to her as 'the feral pony' when I talk about her to my horse friends. She won't allow anyone to approach or touch her, including me. She needs (must get, can not go another day without) basic training. For a variety of reasons and despite the frowns and glances askance that are bound to greet this news from my more experienced friends, I have decided to go the clicker training route. I will say more about Thyme as I go along, but the main goal of this blog will be to track her training and, just as importantly to me, the evolution of my understanding and use of this method. Wish us good speed and fair winds.