(VICT) Re: Squirrels
- From: "Tamara Smith-Kinney" <tamara.8024@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <vi-clicker-trainers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 17:34:47 -0800
Karyn,
I love your description. A young do and his first squirrel. A friend =
was
telling me last week that squirrels were bouncing around just out of =
leash
length of her dogs and driving them crazy. I guess they were also =
throwing
nuts at the dogs to aggravate them more.
Because of squirrels, my right arm is now 7 inches longer than my left.
Also, I once had the leash around my waist so I had my hands free, and I =
was
actually in fear for my spine! Good grief! The only time Mitsy has =
chased
a squirrel in harness was in front of a friend's house -- while the =
friend
was on the porch enjoying the evening, of course. I had to grab a tree =
to
keep from being dragged through the bushes and into the street.
I have no idea if there's a formal technique for untraining the chase
response, but I just prevented her from continuing her chases and waited =
for
her to settle on her own. And gritted my teeth and hoped my arm =
actually
stayed with the rest of me! Then we went on. You're right. Competing =
with
a squirrel is a losing proposition. /smile/ I think I would talk to =
her
while she bounced and reared at the end of the leash like a rodeo horse,
patiently, but in a less than cheery voice. I usually ended up sounding =
a
little world weary about it all, since she can remain fixed on a course =
of
action for a shockingly long time.
The technique of inhibiting a behavior by simply preventing the animal =
from
performing it is something I read about long ago in a horse-training =
book.
Maybe someone else has heard of it and knows what it's called? The =
contact
was for starting to work with young foals. Once you had gotten the foal =
and
its mother used to your touching it and running your hands over its =
body,
you would gently put an arm over its back and the other around its chest =
to
restrain it very briefly from moving forward before releasing it. The =
idea
being that it would early on develop the idea that you can control its
behavior and that there is no harm in this.
I've adapted this idea in a couple of ways with Mitsy. The hold =
wouldn't
work for you, but simply preventing Thane from chasing without any other
reaction might help him learn to be less dedicated to the pursuit. I'm =
not
sure how you could protect your arm; the leash I used to keep fastened
around my waist was problematic enough with cane and me when she was =
young
and rowdy and liked to run in circles around me. A chair would make it
unworkable, I think. Hmm...
Then, when he starts learning to recall himself, so to speak, you can =
start
praising for that and move on, talking in a cheery voice (or whatever =
you
do). Etc. This seemed to work better with Mitsy than simply dragging =
her,
which I also tried a time or two. I think letting her reach the =
decision to
give it up and to give me back some attention also helped her learn to =
do
the same with less distractions as we increased our guiding practice. =
In
fact, she would be so excited when she remembered to pull her nose out =
of a
favorite sniff spot that she would do her little grin and dance. And I
could praise and/or click, of course.
HTH.
Tami Smith-Kinney
-----Original Message-----
From: vi-clicker-trainers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:vi-clicker-trainers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Karyn and
Thane
Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2008 1:02 PM
To: Vi-clicker
Subject: (VICT) Squirrels
Oh my! Thane found squirrels on our walk today! Honestly I don't =
remember=20
seeing squirrels since my move here in 2002. My complex does not have =
them=20
as we have the wrong kind of trees but on our walk Thane found some.=20
Squirrels make cats look like a minor distraction. I remember how hard I =
had
to work with Met over squirrels when he started taking me to school at =
14=20
months of age. Met was used to them though- he chased them from tree to =
tree
in the yard and watched them a lot when he was not chasing them. =
Squirrels=20
seem to be a common High Reward (to the dog) distraction.
Thane was not gonna leave his squirrels today. I finally had to tie the=20
leash up really short to keep him safe and take off across the street =
which=20
made him have to come. That ios not how I wanted to deal with it, but =
there=20
was no way to unglue his eyes. I don't know if he had them where he =
lived or
not- I have to check into it but it is possible this was a first =
encounter.=20
If that is the case it definitely explains things as first encounters =
tend=20
to be impossible LOL
So I was wondering if anyone with squirrel success can share how you =
trained
your dog to carry on. Please keep in mind I can not use a clicker or =
even=20
treats on the go like that. It was not in a place where it would have =
been=20
safe to deal with treats even if I had the free hand to do so. I need to =
accomplish this verbally just as I did with Met- but Met was not so =
pinned=20
to the squirrels. Goodness Me! I never would have known they were there =
if=20
it wa snot for his strong attraction to them...
He is becoming a great hearing dog at the moment, but my arm would love =
for=20
him to ease up on it a bit!
Karyn and Thane=20
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