There are loads of different ways to do it, definitely not one single right way. So I shaped go to a placeboard and sit - so 'got' these behaviours with no cue associated (obviously). Separately, I had trained my release. Only the release is on cue in this video. The place and sit are shaped, and are now going on cue. If I drop the treat in front of the placeboard, then the action of turning and sitting is my stop whistle behaviour which will also be followed by release. I need to add distance once I've finished the place cue. GOPR2634 by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr
I'm definitely going to introduce placeboards for my next puppy, having seen all your uses for them. I'm not sure they'd bring anything to the party with my two at this stage. I'm willing to be proved wrong, though
Oh, and I think this way of doing it clarifies a lot. I was thinking about training the release as part of the sit behaviour. No, training it as a completely separate entity means you can then chain the behaviours together - and the place board massively helps a lot as a focus-point for the sit.
I have taught Bramble using placeboards, and they have proved really useful. She will go to the placeboard and sit on cue. She will not come away until a release cue. Even with a bowl of food in front. I just added duration to the release cue. Same with her crate, food etc...however I have to admit this is not translating well to grass/ground. Something to work on. I can also send her away to a place board, which is useful now I am starting on a stop cue. She does settle very though, which is kinda frustrating!
I will try a place board at home. Only question I have is how does that work out and about? Or does that come later once they get what is expected? Given how we can't take a place board with us...
First, you have to take the placeboard and repeat the whole training out and about. There is no getting round the need to proof your placeboards. So I find quiet spots - the empty training field, a remote national trust carpark and so on. With Charlie, I worked up to proofing my placeboards so he'd sit on them in the middle of a busy wimbledon common. After all, I want them to work on a training ground in a group class. I had no problem removing the placeboards for anything, but you do it in a structured way. There is a video of me removing the placeboards for a stop on a recall somewhere....I'll see whether I can dig it out.
Place boards are a excellent tool to begin the "stay" process. Once dog gets it I proofed by going to the fields where kids were playing. Empty fields may be a confidence booster for both dog and trainer, but the real test is having dog stay with cars, kids, animal noises all around and I walking around him in a every increasing circle. If he sits up I simply say, "no, sit". I only used a food treat at early stage to get him to associate place board with the action I wanted, which was to sit. His treat now when job well done is ball play. Sven -- use a small rug or cut a piece of carpet to have a mobile place board.
I don't use punishment though. So I don't say no. I also don't want to repeat my sit cue. So, empty fields first break down the training into easy steps, and then distractions one at a time and that way I aim for the puppy to always be successful. It takes longer, but it's how I want to train.
Ask the dog to sit beside you, take one step forward, then back and give a treat for staying. Gradually increase the steps, I used to walk round my dog and then give a treat as a reward for not moving. Releas cue could be 'off you go' or 'finish'.
I wonder if your puppy gets up before the release could be becauseshe mis-reads your body language and thinks you are about to release her? I found that moving my arms, talking etc actually made it easier for Molly as she wasn't watching me eagle-eyed for any little inadvertant finger twitch that she would take as a signal to move. There's a really good kikopup video on YouTube about this.
That's a good point, Joy. I see in the video of Betsy that she moves her shoulders on the Re of Release and then moves back until she hears the lease of Release. I've inadvertently trained this by introducing cue discrimination using the words Remote, Redact, Reduction etc. I'll quit that!
Well, a new day = a new start. I took on board what @Joy said and have incorporated movement (move my arm treat release, move my leg treat release etc). I'll keep up with that this weekend and slowly build duration. I'll get this solid before actually moving a step away. Re the release. I've been saying my cue then throwing a treat away like is recommended on the main site. @JulieT i notice that Betsy comes to you for her treat on your release cue, is there any reason you do it this way? I do wonder whether throwing the treat just adds to the dog's excitement...but maybe that's not a bad thing...I don't know!
I don't want the treat to be part of the cue. With Charlie, he ignored the verbal cue, and the throwing of the treat became his release. Which was very annoying to put right. Betsy moves towards me on her release cue. Once she has done that, and completed the action, I throw the treat. To train this, I said 'release' and then encouraged her towards me. Then she gets a thrown treat as her reinforcement for doing that.
Thanks all. Will try this today in small steps and see how we go. Will get a bath matt or something and sett this up. @Joy think you might be right about the body language. Thinking back she moves as I position my hand with the treat to throw. Will stop that, and see how I go. New day to try new things..
Perfect, I knew you'd have a good reason for doing it this way. I've only introduced my release cue over the past week so swapping to your method shouldn't cause too much confusion...I hope
