Lily has a Bucket List. A list of behaviors that I need but that I have let slip.
The behavior on the list is Get the Light (turn on the kitchen light). Once Lily learned Paws Up in Steps to Service, it was chained with turning on the light.
Then the New Levels (Steps to Success) came along and the bar was raised for Paws Up. And along the way, because of a combination of long Weimaraner nails and a less than solid duration on Paws Up, I turned the light on myself more and more.
But now knees and need have met and I really do need Lily to do this job for me. Thus. The Bucket List.
I've approached it from several angles.
First, to facilitate training, I have put an "interim" step stool beneath the kitchen light switch. Gasp! Every time Lily and I pass the light switch I ask her to Light. And each time we pass back by it, the task is repeated. I am using REALLY high value treats.
It's a double switch, but I only want her using the one on the right (the kitchen light). So that's another link in the chain.
I have gone back to Level 3 Target and am building duration from the very beginning. This is another part of the chain - Level 4 Target - going from a distance to Paws Up. And by using different arms, indicating different directions on the go out.
Level 4 Target Step 1b)
Gradually stop using your voice and start signalling with your left arm.
Have her circle you between behaviors.
I like teaching Paws Up on a vertical surface when on the Base. Lots of stucco buildings. Lots of trees. Lots of quiet places, if you know where to look.
And.....I am making a conscious effort to keep Lily's nails short.
The Bucket List is my summer training project. Hopefully it won't contain the same behavior for the entire summer. But if it does. That's alright, too.
Get the Light is fast becoming a mitigating behavior.
NOTES and QUOTES:
- TARGET L4 STEP 3
- "Any time she tells you she's reached the threshold of her ability to do the job "lightly, brightly, and with grace", Chute back to where she CAN be successful and move slowly out again."
- "Doing the job correctly involves a lot of different criteria"
- go straight to the wall
- go willingly to the wall
- be In the Game
- go to the wall you're sending her to
- hit with pads of both feet