Stay... what?

Normally I'd say Stryker's lack of understanding regarding the cue "stay" is me being lazy. However, I have a reasonable explanation this time. Stryker came into rescue with one very reliable behavior, "sit." It has continued to be her most reliable behavior and it vies with "platz" as her default behavior at this point. My number one goal when she came into rescue was to teach her to think. I wanted her to think about her surroundings and how she could control them.

From there we learned how to shape things together. I learned how to work with a new dog and she learned how to think. One of her favorite behavior chains is "rise/jump/bottom" (front feet/all 4 feet/rear feet) using a pedestal. She's done it on the fitpaws peanut, the hatbox, and a large plastic storage container. I needed to get a picture of her last night and knowing that "stay" is not reliable enough for me to step away, I cued a behavior that has a long history of reinforcement for duration.

"Rise" while sporting a ThunderShirt.

All this is to say that "stay" hasn't been very high on my priority list. I'm okay with that and feel justified explaining that to her potential new owners. Instead, she has the skill set to watch a toy being thrown and offer a sit or down in order to be released to chase it.

She has a default sit in her crate until released. 

She will offer a sit and wait for water/food bowls to be set down. 

She's able to be tethered to a human while walking and stick pretty close to the left side. 

She'll put her nose into her gentle leader.

She can relax in her crate and out of it.

And, she's learning to pick up a toy when greeting someone, rather than chew on their arm.

Tim much appreciates the toy in her mouth!

Stryker has someone coming to meet her tomorrow, if it's a good match for everyone involved... this could be her last night here. If it's not a good match for everyone, she'll have interacted with two people and their current German Shepherd, and I'll have more information about new/improved/more reliable skills she needs for her home.

I'm pretty sure her tail continues to grow...

Pedestal Video

(Apparently some of the words in the video are above the frame... sorry!)

Pedestal/Pivot

I brought out my trusty hat box soon after I picked Stryker up almost two weeks ago. I successfully taught her to punch it with one foot in a matter of 5 clicks. Hrmph. Brilliant puppy, poor training plan!

I put it away and focused on other tasks for a while. After talking with my great training friend, Kristen, I developed a new training plan.

Tonight I got both feet on the hat box within 10 clicks. I was even able to c/t and return my left hand to my side while she kept her eyes on me. It was just for a split second but I was so proud! We'll have a couple more sessions to build the eye contact in position before I start looking for movement of the rear feet.


Srs puppeh is srs!