#5514
Well done Mary I am really liking the relationship that you have with Salu, you are both working well as a team. I have seen that you have taken on previous comments and have changed some of your location behaviours for when you are out in the fields hunting truffles. I like that you are now going down to Salu when he locates the hidden truffle and you are ‘unearthing’ it for him and then rewarding him by showing him the truffle and putting it down close to where he first found it, and not bringing it into your body. Great rewarding at this point with a couple given before I heard the first click. You then rewarded or c/t seven times in the same position and Salu was giving some good pawing at the sample. I like the last pawing as you waited slightly longer before c/t allowing Salu to increase his intensity at the reward, brilliant.
I’d like to see you change the collecting sample behaviour a little by throwing a treat for Salu away from the training area (or a ball if in a large room/area) so you can collect the sample and either hide it or remove it from the ‘playing’ area, and when Salu returns ask him to “Go Get it” again to find any additional samples in this area.
Salu is so meticulous at checking everything in the area. When Salu first started the search you were standing to the far right of the glasses case and Salu was checking all of the other containers. Then you moved from the far right of the glasses case to within a few inches of it so could suggest that your change in body language indicated that he should sniff the glasses case. Hi location alert was very different on the glasses case than on the first location. We could test that by doing another search, with two samples – one being the glasses case, and stand still to see if he locates is by himself.
However, when he found the sample in the glasses case you praised him well and rewarded by brining out the tea ball . When Salu nosed the tea ball you didn’t c/t, however the c/t happened when he pawed the tea ball. It was a little hard to see, but it appeared that you later c/t Salu for nose touches on the tea-ball. Is there a particular alert that you are working on or can it be either of these behaviours?
All in all I think you both did a really good job and the cuddle at the end was certainly welcomed by Salu.