My First Human Training Session

So I'm also a babysitter at the moment (I prefer to be called Nanny McPhee, but Red - one of my little charges - said no). Anyway, Red picked up my clicker and started playing it, which got Ozzie's attention immediately. Rather than tell her the usual, "That's not a toy, put it down",  I explained what it was for and showed her how to use it.

She caught on pretty quick for a 11 year old human.

I also got a little lesson in generalization. We were working on "sit", which Ozzie already knows from his pre-me training. They were doing really well, until Red sat down with the exaggerated exhaustion only an adolescent can experience - Ozzie's little brain couldn't cope with it and he stood around looking confused. I got her back up, and we finished the lesson on a really good sit.

We expect our dogs to catch on so quick to what we see as simple behaviors. I've always been amazed at owners who complain about how slow their dogs are to learn something, and then complain the dog is "bad" when they won't do the something everywhere and anywhere, under any conditions. But seeing the confusion in Ozzie's face when his "trainer" was doing something different really reinforced this lesson for me. I explained it to Red, but I'm not sure she got it.

And that reinforced the lesson that sometimes it's hard for the owners to learn new stuff too...

Question of the day: How much generalization training is enough?


PS I also learned to keep the clicker in my pocket from now on, not on my key ring...

Ozzie

I've been working with my own dog, but I also have a second "patient", Ozzie.

Ozzie belongs to a friend who is wheelchair-bound (she's in hospital right now, recovering from yet another surgery). Oz is huge, under-socialized, under-trained and pretty much out of control. On the bright side, he's devoted to his people, perfectly house and crate trained, and more than willing to learn something new.

There are a lot of environmental issues too - the house is VERY cluttered, he doesn't have a place to run or anyone to walk him on a daily basis. Unless my friend or I work with him, he doesn't get much training, at least not with positive reinforcement. And what troubles me the most is that the two kids wind him up and encourage some very bad behavior, and the husband has lost his temper when Ozzie has done some things he really shouldn't have done - knocking over a small child and biting one of his own kids.

As I said, Oz is more than willing to learn, but some of his behaviors (licking and mouthing, playing "silly buggers" when I want him to do something, stealing clothes or toys) are being reinforced by the children. So Oz and I take two steps forward, and move one step back when the kids come back from school. And with the other issues in the household, dealing with the dog's behavior - and indeed dealing with the children's behavior (with the dog and in other matters) is pretty much a low priority.

As an aside, I'm there for a few hours a day with the dogs and the girls, so while I have some influence, but I have better luck with Ozzie than the girls...

So here's the question of the day: Is my working with the dog towards improving his behavior, but allowing the children to continue their reinforcing of the unwanted behavior unfair to the dog, confusing him? Or, will he learn at least to behave around me at least, which I can then generalize to others, including the children?

PS I've given up on that day counter - looks like I'm going to be in interrupt mode for quite some time...