Quote:
Originally posted by Skip
....motivational....still a fun game for him. |
I did mine motivational also. I did mine with food and my dog had a bad problem grabbing the ends. He thought the moment I pulled out the dumbell from the beggining that it was a big prey object. I first had to teach him that the dumbell was actually dull and that what wasn't reinforcing was actually playing with the dumbell but the food he was going to get for the dumbell. So that meant as much as he wanted to play with I had to be very calm about the whole thing and make as little movement with the dumbell as possible from the get go. So first I taught my dog that he would get rewarded with food for holding the dumbell. I just presented it to him calmly (little to no movement in the dumbell) and rewarded him with food for grabbing. Once we got that behavior solid I would present it halfway to the ground and in just different places (closer to the ground, near my waist, on the side, etc..). Once that was solid and I knew he would take it wherever it was presented, i then placed it on the ground. This was when he would pick it up from the sides and start chewing or doing some stupid stuff. Before chewing the sides became reinforcing I made sure I interrupted CALMLY and took the dumbell away calmly and slowly. I'd present on the ground again and would only reward him for picking it up in the middle. Once he was reinforced like that a few times that was all she wrote. Your biggest dilema is to keep his motivation going through the session. Even if you make the dog unsuccessful and not have the opportunity to recieve his reward for picking up the dumbell (because he's picking it up from the sides) try to read your dog and position the dumbell in a way that he will pick it up in the middle so he can obtain his reward again. Too many unsuccessful tries will discourage him depending on how high his drive is for the motivator he's working for. Success is what will strengthen the behavior.