I have been working on adding Distance with Lily's Emergency Phone Retrieve. She understands the softly given cue (Phone) from as far away as the landing. Perhaps it is running up the half flight of stairs that revs her up. Perhaps it's just her built in antenna telling her that it's Retrieve so it is a fun game. Whatever the reason, when Lily must go from outside the bedroom wing to get the dedicated EP, her enthusiasm causes her to "forget" to carry the phone by it's handle.
She eagerly does the EPR. BUT......from a distance, she reverts to carrying the phone in her mouth.
In an emergency, that won't matter, but for the sake of her training, I really want the phone carried by its handle. If we can master that skill, then I theoretically can also cue her to retrieve a ringing phone.
So....what do you do when you run into trouble? Take the chain apart and work on the individual behaviors.
Yesterday we reviewed Retrieve Level 3 Step 3:
- where to hold the object
and Step 4:
- moving to get the object
- moving with the object in her mouth
- how to carry the object: no mouthing, quiet mouth
It is Lily's responsibility to remember that this particular object is to be held by the strap.
This morning, we went "back" to Retrieve Level 4 Step 3: The dog lifts the article off the floor. And then, because she will have to lift the phone off the floor as it rests under the desk in the cradle, we train lifting from floor first then from the cradle.
Lift from floor
Lift from cradle
Lift from cradle
Now it's time to begin to let Lily take a step or two with the phone strap in her mouth. No cue. The click (or "yes") tells her when to release. Lily is so responsive to the click, the video captures Lily letting go of the phone in response to a poorly timed "yes".
Also, the close up video showed me a few occasions where it looked as though Lily was holding the phone in her mouth when she actually was holding the tight part of the strap with her front teeth.
First, lift from the floor and then step.
Then lift from the cradle and step.
Stationary, move. Stationary, move.
THE MISSING LINK: A controlled approach
Now, I expand Step 4 by increasing the distance that Lily must travel to get to the phone without increasing the distance she must carry the phone. My thinking here is to teach self-control and focus on the approach.
Now, I expand Step 4 by increasing the distance that Lily must travel to get to the phone without increasing the distance she must carry the phone. My thinking here is to teach self-control and focus on the approach.
We're almost at the point where I will have to begin moving myself - when I begin extending the distance Lily must carry the phone. First, though, I want to build in "the missing link".
