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...

Fetch

(I'm posting out of focus pictures... ohnoes! I did NOT have my camera settings right tonight... I'll have to work on that some more!)

Tonight we took fetch "on the road!" She came into rescue understanding the "chase after it" but not the "bring it back so it can be thrown again" part. It's been a work in progress, a successful work in progress.

I started by shaping a retrieve. We either use a hunting-dog bumper or the wonderfully PINK Planet Dog "Fetch!" ball. Tonight's outside session was the ball, as she seems to enjoy the erratic bouncing of that more.

Camera Fail. Puppy Win.

She's been wearing her Gentle Leader while we do exciting things more often because I want to continue the "THIS MEANS FUN" associations. She's usually quite good about wearing it these days. That's why she's got a gentle leader, collar, and a Sure-Fit Harness (with long line attached) on at the same time.

The most important fetch rule is that she must be lying down before I throw it, and it must be an offered "platz" (lie down from a stand, not from a sit). She doesn't always get it right...

You throw ball now?

Sorry pumpkin, let's move over here...

Oh, right, you throw ball NOW!

Good girl!

I have a ball!

Fetch tonight was mostly a success. We still had some errors (they're mostly dropping the ball on the way back to me) but the successes were great! If she made it back to me with the ball, every one was a delivery to hand!

Silly puppy on leaf patrol!

Tugging

Another video of the puppy!

"Platz"

... will ultimately be the verbal cue for this behavior. I want to successfully teach a dog sit-to-down is different from stand-to-down (and you may have to stand from a sit to get there, eventually).


This is Stryker, the foster GSD. This will be her blog, when I have a chance to work on it.

She says "thanks for watching!"