OK, so I've been teaching Harvey to 'Find it' with some smelly treats in the house. I let him smell the treat first then I ask him to sit and wait while I go and hide the treat. Then I return and give him the 'Find it' instruction. Off he goes hunting for the treat (sometimes he goes straight to it and other times it takes a few circuits). I praise him when he finds it and then move on to the next one. When we're finished I say 'All done' and show him my empty hands to indicate that there are no more treats. The issue I'm having is that Harvey takes a while to switch off again - once we've done the chosen number of Finds he continues searching for more treats. How should I be ending an exercise like this? BTW This has really helped with our Stay (which is implicit in the Sit command rather than explicit by verbal instruction).
Re: Stop. Cease. Desist. How do you end a game / exercise? Oh yes, the enthusiasm of the youngster ;D ;D It is quite normal for Harvey to expect the game to go on and on forever , Labs are known for their optimism , when I`ve been having a training session with Sam , I pick up his dummy or ball and put it in my pocket or bag, saying Done Now . I guess maybe if you had a treat bag , put in the ammount you need to play the game , and then when they have all gone , show him the empty bag ( as you do with your hands ) . He will eventually get the idea that enough is enough, but it may take some time , Sam is almost three years old and never wants his sessions to end, sorry
Re: Stop. Cease. Desist. How do you end a game / exercise? We do find its at the same time of day, our last play session before I go to work, and we have a little routine - big fuss for the last one, "all done", then we have a cuddle, and move on the the next thing - which is a pee in the garden, then a chew or kong in his crate. He knows the end, but looks forward to the next activity.
Re: Stop. Cease. Desist. How do you end a game / exercise? I too show my hands and say "All gone" as a sign its relax/free time
Re: Stop. Cease. Desist. How do you end a game / exercise? He will eventually start to learn that 'all gone' means the end of the game. He probably already knows but is trying to test you to see if you really mean it We never intentionally set out to teach Penny a command to signal the end of playtime, it just happened! We just say 'no more' with a swipe of the hand and now she just immediately switches off out of play mode - it's really handy because she gets super obsessed with her tennis ball and is oblivious to everything when playing fetch, to the point she will guard her ball from other dogs and have a bit of a pop at the them if they get too near while she's in the zone. Now if any approach we can just switch her off and no more issues!! Plus now she's not meant to be playing fetch but bless her if she doesn't try her hardest! Whenever we go to the field as soon as you let her off she bounces around you with that hopeful expression on her face, we tell her 'no more' and off she goes to explore the park like it never happened!
Re: Stop. Cease. Desist. How do you end a game / exercise? Thanks all. We'll keep plugging away at it - Harv's pretty bright, he'll cotton on eventually
Re: Stop. Cease. Desist. How do you end a game / exercise? What would make him more in tune with it would be to do the same number of hidden treats each time so he understands that i have to find say 3 treats then no more game over. We do this with puzzle when we hide 'pinky' in the garden,3 hidden 'pinky's' then game over with a big play and fuss for the last one.
Re: Stop. Cease. Desist. How do you end a game / exercise? Yes - I say 'all gone' and show her my empty hands It took my friend's pooch, Zaba, much longer to learn as he could still smell the treats in my pockets and didn't believe me!!
