Hi Kitty, Thanks for the suggestions. Valerie will take food from my hand, or from anywhere else she can get it; that's the problem. Earlier, she ate a piece of grass, and she tried to eat a headphone cover and a rubberband. Leave it works sometimes, so I think I will stay with leave it. What guide dog school did you go to, or did you owner train? Thanks, Martha ----- Original Message ----- From: "kitty hevener" <khevener@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <vi-clicker-trainers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 9:33 AM Subject: (VICT) Re: Hello, food question > Hi Martha, congratulations on getting your first guide dog. My first > guide > dog and I have been together for a little over six years. Leash > corections > never worked for me either, despite what the school said. I see several > options for you and will share some below. Please know though that these > options may not be a cure all. My girs is an opportunist and is > extrememly > fast. Her speed at grabbing something she should not have has surprised > many sighted people. > > option 1. If she has a long history of the "leave it" command being > meaningless to her, you may need to come up with another cue and reteach > it. > To start the process, I would hold a low value treat in my fist. > Hopefully > she will try to get it from you. As soon as she stops click and treat. > Do > this a few time before introducing the word cue. I treat with something > of > higher value than what is in my hand. When she masters this stepl I would > do the same thing, but have your hand a little more open. As she mastes > this, you might try increasing the value of the treat she is supposed to > leave. You may need to initially go back to the closed fist just to > insure > success. I think this is especially important if you can't see what she > is > about to do. You can eventually move from your hand to putting low value, > then incresingly higher value treat on floor. Be ready to put your hand > or > foot on it to keep her from getting it if necessary. > > Btw, if your dog refuses to take treats or food from your hand, then you > will need to teach her to do this first. I used "take it" as my cue. > > option 2. Redirect the dog. Your dog can only do what you ask if she is > paying attention to you. Many sighted people get their dog focused on > them > by using words such as watch, look, etc. I use touch. This means that my > dog will touch me with her face, nose, or mouth. I always reward this > command. The other day, I was in a situation where some crackers were > left > on restaurant floor. Before I even knew they were there, old hover went > in > to action! She was so focused that "leave it" must have meant "keep on > eating". I switched to "touch". She did and I treated. I initially > thought she had responded to touch because she had eaten all the crackers. > But, my friend told me there were still some under her nose. I then used > the remaining crackers as an opportunity to work on "leave it". Btw, I > use > a gentle leader with my dog. When I started using the remaining crackers > as > a teaching opportunity, we were both standing. So, I could feel as soon > as > her head started moving down toward the floor and, if necessary, would > have > been able to move her head away from the food. > > Martha, hope this helps. Am sure others will have ideas for you as well. > Glad to see your interest in switching to positive methods. oh, one more > thing I have found. Since my dog, like yours, was trained with the > traditional training methods, you may find that it takes some time to get > your dog to respond to the positive methods. Afterall, with the old > method, > your dog only knows she has done something wrong if she gets a leash > correction, ie punishment. Manyclicker trainers comment that "crossover" > dogs such as ours are hard to switch over. However, it can and does work. > Having said that, I will be the first to say that my dog isn't perfect. I > have yet to meet the perfect dog. What I can say is that she is safe, and > I > can typically control her through a combination of commands and managing > the > environment. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "marthaharris" <latinanewschic@xxxxxxxxxxx> > To: <vi-clicker-trainers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 6:02 PM > Subject: (VICT) Hello, food question > > > Hi Everyone, > My name is Martha, and I am working with my first guide dog Valerie. I > wanted to try clicker training with her, since corrections aren't very > helpful. What do you do if your guide goes after food? Valerie tries to > eat > food from the cafeteria floor at my school, and leave it and leash > corrections don't help. > Thanks, > Martha > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.407 / Virus Database: 268.13.1/466 - Release Date: 10/7/2006 > > > >