Trouble with Training the Trainer

So I mentioned a few days ago that Duncan is training me to train him. Today he developed a new technique, but unfortunately ran into a slight glitch.

I made an executive decision this morning to postpone our training, because – horror of horrors – we had run out of meatloaf for treats. Now don't panic; I spent the time thawing 4 pounds of ground kangaroo meat, and two large pans of meatloaf are in the oven right now. But still...

His lordship has been restless today. He misses either the training or the meatloaf; actually he misses both, I think. So he took matters into his own paws again. He led me into the living room, picked up a corner of his big mat in his teeth, and gave me a look that said quite clearly:

Will work for food

I picked up on my cue and asked him to Go to Mat. He threw himself happily down on the mat. And then it all fell apart...

All I had to offer as a reward was kibble. Duncan was not impressed. He reluctantly agreed to eat some, and reluctantly agreed to continue the session, but it was clear that his new motto will be:

Will work for food*

* NB: food ≠ kibble

Training the Trainer

Duncan and I have gotten back into clicker training lately. We've been doing it rather randomly all along, but now we're tackling it in a much more regular and systematic way. We've gone back to Sue Ailsby's fabulous Training Levels program (which we started way back when he was a tiny puppy before we got sidetracked by official School.) We're working on it every day. He's great at some things, not so much at others, but overall somewhere in the second level (out of four).

He loves training, and I think (hope?) that having a "job" to do will help him to feel less anxious. In other words, we're trying to move from "What am I supposed to do in this horribly worrying situation involving a beeping microwave? Perhaps I should bark and throw myself between it and my mom!" towards "I have an extremely important job to do; if I sit and stay the microwave will stop beeping. Plus I'll get paid with meatloaf".

How do I know that he loves training? Well, we've been working a lot this week on Go to Mat. Here's our training setup for the early steps: I sat comfortably in the armchair, while Duncan happily bellyflopped onto his "mat", getting a click to mark the correct response and a treat to reward it.

Notice the important items on the table here: one bright purple and green clicker, one plate of kangaroo meatloaf, and one cup of coffee (for me. Why should he get all the treats?)

So we spent a while the other morning working on Go to Mat. After we finished, I went to work and Duncan had a nap in his crate. But when I got home, he seemed restless. He paced and fussed and squeaked at me, and I couldn't figure out what he wanted. He led me into the hall, near the living room door. Did he want out? I went downstairs. He didn't. Was he hungry? I went into the kitchen. He didn't. Finally, he got exasperated with this not-too-bright human, marched up to the little table, and stared at the clicker. Pointedly. Very pointedly indeed. 

The message was clear, even to a slightly dense human: Duncan was ready to get back to his training now. Would I kindly get the treats, and start clicking? ASAP!

Yard Work

Finally - what a beautiful spring morning! Duncan started off the day with a bit of exercise, by chasing some imaginary balls in the baseball diamond. He always seems to know just where the ball would have landed, if it actually existed. Apparently that last throw didn't go very far:

But we couldn't play all day; we had to get to work. The long winter left lots of yard work to be done, and Duncan was a great help with it. He did NOT attack the rake. He did NOT lie down in the grass I was cutting. He ate all the leftover ice cubes. He did NOT attack the yard waste bag.  And most of all, he helped with pruning the shrubs. (After all, pruning means new sticks!)

Just one small problem: he realized that he was being stalked by somebody with a camera. Very annoying. Well, a guy likes a bit of privacy, right? So he took his branch and moved to a quieter corner of the yard, where he settled in for a chew:

Enjoying Spring!

Finally! It's a beautiful early spring day, mild and sunny. And Duncan loves it. In fact, he has been outside for most of the morning, just prowling around, chasing frisbees, and getting reacquainted with the yard now that the snow has all disappeared.

Oh, and enjoying his latest stick:

A couple of weeks ago, Duncan was extremely upset to discover a man in the neighbour's tree. Men don't belong in trees. Birds belong in trees, and possibly squirrels (although they really should stay on the ground to be chased.) But not men. And this one had a very noisy chainsaw, with which he was attacking the tree.

One of his anxiety pills later, he felt much better, and was actually able to go outside and watch this evil man without stressing, which was a huge achievement for him. And he got his reward: one of the smaller branches fell on our side of the fence, along with a few other sticks. And we all know that Duncan  -  loves  -  sticks  ! 

His plan seems to be to start and one end of it and work to the other, so I have a feeling this stick will last a long time!