Chris (access until November 15, 2014)

Home Forums Recreational Truffle Dog Training 101 Chris (access until November 15, 2014)

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  • #2644
    Alana McGee
    Keymaster

    Welcome to class Chris! This is the forum topic where you will post your questions and homework videos for feedback from the instructors. Please take a moment to tell us about yourself, your dog and your interest in truffle hunting.

    *to be notified by email of replies in this forum topic please check the box below your reply.

    #2651
    Chris
    Participant

    i’m chris. i hunt mushrooms professionally and would like to add truffles to the repertoire. my puppy, daisy, and i live with my wife, annie, and two sons, samson (5) and franklin (2), near durango, colorado.

    daisy’s mom is healer/lab mix. her dad is unknown. her estimated birthday was june 1, 2014. daisy likes to play, mouth everything and sniff around. she had early crate training with her young siblings and sleeps in her crate. ceasar milan and i think she should be crated more because she is not quite 100% house trained and hard to keep tabs on. annie thinks otherwise. daisy gets cold easily and does not like to be outside in the night or morning. maybe a sweater? she has been swimming a little bit in lake and river.

    she is great with the boys, but the boys don’t listen to us and so they don’t correct (or properly ignore) her nipping and rough play. i don’t suppose you train kids too?

    #2652
    Chris
    Participant

    more video coming below of some of our sessions. i am still trying to figure out holding the camera and clicker and treating. if i mention traci or “how traci does it,” she is our local trainer. we have had two of four weekly puppy manners classes. if i mention ceasar, you know who i am talking about.

    what we have been working on for the last two weeks:
    she is good with
    sit

    down/lay down – she occasionally refuses down or gets up immediately after the click. she was one of the more dominant puppies in her litter.

    leave it – she knows what we mean when she is chewing on the wrong thing, but i worry about porcupine/snake encounters. traci started us with a slim jim in a closed hand and clicking and treating when she leaves that, but that game is old to her. she knows whats up and ignores the slim jim. we need a new, more advanced variation for this.

    stay close – we have been doing this on and off leash and it is going good, but i feel like she stays close only because she is young and wants the treats. she dislikes the leash and i am unsure how much to use it. traci made us get a harness for the “come” exercise.

    touch/shake – we just started this yesterday and she is great at it. after a few, she started using her paw rather than her nose, so i added the “shake” verbal command. so far i have been clicking and treating nose or paw. i am wondering if i need to be more precise about which of those i want.

    i am interested in good “we are done with training” signal/command and a good “lay in your bed/crate” exercise to get her to go in there on her own.

    touch/shake:

    #2653
    Chris
    Participant

    and “focus”/eye contact

    also saw this amazing clicker video about barking. does this really work to prevent barking?

    #2658
    Alana McGee
    Keymaster

    Hi Chris.

    The basic obedience/ focus, shake, look really good! Keep up the good work. The targeting and touch/shake will be very useful later when we are working on alerts, and it will act as foundation work! Especially the nose targeting, but good work on recognizing and adding a label for the shake.

    As for the Bark/ quiet. Yes, this indeed can be applied and work quite well.

    You are also spot on with your idea of an “all done” cue. We call that an ‘off button’. It is good to try to start working on a ok done working, now play time, or go to your mat/space cue and then reward for it. As always start small and you can eventually build duration. This comes a bit more in basic obedience when you are possibly working on sit & stay.

    As for the leave it: Keep at it. You are correct in your area that there will be things you want Daisy to stay away from. Impulse control can be tough for puppies! But keep at it, the threshold grows over time and if you keep practicing these behaviors you will eventually be able to build duration as well.

    #2665
    Chris
    Participant

    1. shake/nose – now all she does is shake. there is hardly any nose touch. not sure how to get the nose touch back and get her to differentiate.

    2. leave it – i think distance is the issue, not duration. can you please explain how to teach leave it, as i do not know where to go from here. do i still use a slim jim? also, i feel like how to say “no” is pretty important at this point. do you care to elaborate on this?

    3. what would greatly help me is a sample schedule so i know how often to work her and when and which exercises are most important for truffling. is it o.k. to mix commands in a session or should it be one command for each session? traci said never say a command more than once. what do you do when she does not do a command?

    if some of these things are beyond the scope of your instruction, please indicate that i am on my own on those topics.

    thank you,
    chris

    #2676
    Alana McGee
    Keymaster

    Hi Chris

    First, we see you have submitted your quiz for Lesson 1 and we will grade it once we have seen video/ pictures of the completed assignments for this lesson. Your scent solution should have arrived, and we would like to see what you will be using as tools and containers as part of this course. Please post a picture or list of your training supplies that you have gathered. We would also like to see some additional video demonstrations of your clicker training mechanics. Perhaps you could demonstrate that (with a short video) with a sit, down and basic recall so we can confirm that the minimum behaviors for successful progression in this course are reliable.

    In response to your questions above:

    1) Not a problem. Both behaviors were allowed and rewarded and she chose her favorite. She isn’t wrong and now has a trick! Start over and work on this with your clicker mechanics. It would be ideal to give the behavior a different cue/ label (and a different hand position) such as a vertical hand (perpendicular to the floor) for the nose touch vs a palm up (parallel) to the floor for a shake, and then withhold reward until she offers the desired behavior, or a behavior that is close. We call that shaping. These two video may help:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWSJVwZybwo

    Post a short video after you practice this for a few days.

    2) As for the teaching of leave it, this will be easier for your instructor in person to explain as they will be working with you on a regular basis on these techniques, and seeing how this is progressing, and we do not want to interfere with their lesson plans.

    3) Right now the idea is to keep sessions short, 5 minutes max (less is just fine!) spread throughout the day, depending on your schedule. Most of her meals can be delivered in this manner as part of a training scenario. Take into account her food intake during these times.

    Do at least 3 to 5 mini sessions a day, not to exceed five minutes. If you can work it into your schedule you can do up 9 of these mini sessions a day. Any time you have a few free moments you can work on any number of the basic obedience or truffle related behaviors. A session could last 30 seconds. It doesn’t need to be long.

    Do not have all 5 to 9 sessions a day revolve around the same behaviors. Vary what you work on throughout the day. Do not repeat the same training scenarios more than 2 or 3 times a day (if you did opt for the 9 mini sessions a day).

    For scent imprinting, do not exceed twice a day (less than 5 minutes each time). When practicing behaviors directly related to truffle odor you will want to use HIGH value rewards.

    You can work on multiple different cues/commands in a session.

    If Daisy does not offer the behavior you want after you say the cue for the behavior you ‘reset’. This means repositioning and trying again. For example: You hold out your hand for Daisy to offer a touch. Instead she shakes (hits it with her paw). You pull you hand back in and reset. You then re present your hand in a slightly different position. See the videos posted above. Your local trainer should also be able to help you with the mechanics of this and provide input.

    For truffle hunting some of the basic obedience behaviors that are helpful include: Touch (nose target), sit, down, and recall.

    #2677
    Chris
    Participant

    got it. that is definitely helpful.

    good videos. today i was able to make two fingers a nose touch. we will keep working on it.

    figured out increasing “leave it” distance. worked on “stay close” on and off leash.

    here is some recall. how to do this with one person?

    here is down and touch (nose)
    i realize my treat is a little slow after click. trying to find the perfect treat (that isn’t outrageously expensive) for holding in your clicker hand. that’s important, right, a few treats in the clicker hand ready to drop? learning every day!

    #2678
    Alana McGee
    Keymaster

    Hi Chris.

    The two person recall game is a great one for puppies as well as adult dogs. Be clear in what you are clicking/ marking for. I recommend marking when Daisy reorients to the person calling her. Try to adjust your timing for that moment. I wasn’t able to see Daisy when you clicked but your camera person was clicking for movement toward her. Daisy has a strong understanding of the the click and knows it is followed by a reward so your recalls will become quicker if the click happens as soon as Daisy reorients to the person calling her. If the treats are high value, she will want to get there fast!

    You are doing great with the clicker timing. I’m sure you realized there was one (maybe two) times you asked for “touch” and she gave a “shake”. You clicked. No harm done. Just be careful not to mix them up so the criteria is crystal clear for Daisy. But, for the purposes of us seeing your clicker mechanics, this was good. Your treat delivery is fine. A pause can be beneficial between the click and the treat as our colleague Ruth LaRocque demonstrates in this video.

    Truffle Dog Company Presents: Introduction to Clicker Training with Ruth LaRocque from Truffle Dog Company on Vimeo.

    #2680
    Alana McGee
    Keymaster

    Hi Chris

    Your Lesson 1 Quiz has been reviewed and graded.

    Also, as per treats, small bits of cheese (I use string cheese often) or hotdogs can work well and are inexpensive.

    #2683
    Chris
    Participant

    thank you. i will be posting video of more sit stay touch and recall, and also a video of all my supplies by tomorrow night.

    the truffle oil arrived. it was well coated all over the inside of the baggie. i opened the bottle for a whiff and the smell is very faint. i can hardly tell it’s more than just oil. how should i store it?it’s in it’s baggie in the fridge right now.

    as for treats – i want a certain size and to not have to prepare (cut) it. also want it to be moist but clean so i don’t need a plastic liner in my treat bag or to have to worry about it sitting in the treat bag over night at room temp. cheese and hot dogs are fine, but require preparation and refrigeration. i want to grab a handful and go. the zukes minis are great and higher value to her than cheese, but expensive. i am looking at becoming a distributor. having the treat bag ready at all times is worth the extra expense to me.

    #2684
    Chris
    Participant

    oh and all of her nose touches are open mouthed. ?

    #2685
    Alana McGee
    Keymaster

    Hi Chris.

    Glad the solution is there. We apologize that it arrived in that state. If the volume is low on the vial (send us a photo) we can resend you one. It shouldn’t have leaked during shipping because they are sealed, but things happen.

    The odor solution need not smell strong to humans. It has been formulated to be used for training (it is routinely tested), and has plenty of volatiles of the desired species to be used for training.

    Keeping it as you have in the fridge in a bag is ideal. It should remain stable at room temperature (avoid direct sunlight or extreme heat), but keeping it refrigerated will prolong volatile breakdown.

    As for the open mouth touches. That is okay. I wouldn?t worry about it just yet. If she developed a tendency to put the target in her mouth you can click and and mark the moment right as she touches it (you can start preemptively marking when she is just about to) But let?s not worry about that unless it manifests.

    #2710
    Chris
    Participant

    sorry i’m late. chanterelles had me out camping. we are doing many (5-9) short (3-10 min) sessions every day.

    training supplies video:

    i use kibble for her training rewards when i feel she has not eaten enough kibble otherwise. it seems to make her eat more kibble when we are not training, which is good. can you tell me how you do your feeding and go to bed rituals? she never eats much when i feed her, but eventually gets around to it. we leave it in her crate.

    some items not shown in the video:
    a better leash
    marking flags
    planter pots of all sizes
    cow tracheas
    10 acres. half of it is forested.
    and these items:
    [img]https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1LkbgKI2qCGRVo5Z1FINTZ2aUU[/img]

    here is part of a session from yesterday:

    it is taking about half an hour of upload per minute of video using high speed wifi and youtube mobile app. do you think vimeo is any better? if you are looking for 4-5 minute videos, we are going to have to figure out a better way.

    • This reply was modified 9 years ago by Chris.
    • This reply was modified 9 years ago by Chris.
    #2713
    Chris
    Participant

    i guess i can only edit a post 3 times? trying to link to a photo in google drive and the apply link thing wasn’t working with the link they gave me. trying again here. here are some other daisy items not featured in the supply video.

    • This reply was modified 9 years ago by Chris.
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