Hi everyone, Yalom is now 9 months old, and in the last few weeks we have seen some changes in his behaviour. His lead walking has (thankfully for my elbow joints) significantly improved. However he is a lot less able to settle and has started jumping on several occasions throughout the day to try and get attention. This is a big change as we worked really hard to ensure he's never been a big jumper, and we've been working on capturing calmness and default settles from a young age thanks to some excellent advice we had from this forum. His recall is still great, but he still trails a long line just in case. I was just wondering if the best thing to do at this phase is just to go back to basics with training? Or if there's anything else I should be doing? Thanks everyone!
Hmm. Could be one or more of many factors. What payoff is he getting from jumping? How do you react? How does the jumpee behave? What happens if you tell him to carry out an incompatiable behaviour such as sit stay? Had you transitioned to intermittent reinforcement for sit stays?
Thanks @Michael A Brooks. I'm not sure what the payoff is from him jumping as I'm trying not to make it rewarding. I usually turn around and walk away from him, although I'm not sure that's the right thing to do or not. He behaves as though he is frustrated, I think, or that he wants attention. If I tell him to sit and stay he usually complies! Sorry, what do you mean by intermittent reinforcement?
Intermittent reinforcement means he is rewarded randomly, l.e., he doesn't get anything for some repetitions that are perfect. No praise. No petting. No food treat. Zippo. Are you rewarding him every time he follows a cue? When you turn and walk away what does he then do?
Ah - no we haven't gone to intermittent reinforcement. He is currently getting a reward for about 90% of followed cues I would say. When I turn and walk away he usually follows me and then will sit.
@RuthElizabeth I think, if it's attention-seeking, that you have half the solution there - by turning away and walking off. But you also need to respond to the unmet need which is behind the attention-seeking. For example: What does he do BEFORE he jumps up? Presumably he approaches you and solicits your attention by looking at you? THAT is the time you want to respond and give him your attention - so he learns that there is no need to jump up, when he wants attention, he can get it just by looking at you and approaching you. If he approaches you and looks at you like he wants a scratch or a stroke, don't ignore that and turn back to whatever you're doing - or you may get jumped on. Reinforce the approach you prefer by responding, then. Obviously you can't do this every single time he approaches you, but if you do it often enough that you satisfy his need for your attention, he should be content and have no need to jump up. Lastly, think about when this is happening - is it happening when a walk or training session is 'due', or when it's approaching a meal time...? If so, then it's harassing you to hurry up and provide that thing. You don't want to respond to it by giving him that thing or it reinforces this pestering behaviour.
Thanks @Jo Laurens. You're right I think that I need to preempt when he wants/needs something from me and I need to reinforce that initial approach so he never gets to jumping up. I was trying to pay really close attention yesterday to when it happened and I wonder if there's an element of frustration involved? For example at one point after our walk I had made cup of coffee and was sat down. Usually he settles next to me and I reinforce him periodically with a treat as in the kikopup video. At this point he jumped up at me. Thinking back, this has happened on a couple of occasions similar this week. Could it possibly be he is frustrated that I am being 'boring'? I know it's something I'll be doing wrong that I need to change.
It's probably just that previously you've given him a treat at this time and you didn't then, so he was like 'where's my treat?' and a bit frustrated. But dogs can sometimes find it hard to transition from something exciting with you, to disengagement and being left to their own devices again - often this transitional time needs some work. My Lab finds it hard if I just end a training session and shut her out the room or do something myself without her - she tends to become a whirling dervish around the house, leap on the other dog's head and on and off the sofa doing zoomies - which I think comes from frustration. If I take a few minutes to stop the training and the treats but just give her calm strokes and scratches and pets, and withdraw myself more gradually in that way, it ends the session in a way which avoids that...
