This post is a work in progress. As I think more, I am amending and adding to it.
I am beginning to train with Lily wearing her new vest with the balance handle.
I am listening to Robin (Walters) and the things that she is learning and doing transferring Jonathan to guiding on her right side.
I began this evening with short LL Level 2 sessions with Lily on my right side wearing the new vest. I am finding that position is important when using the handle. And Lily doesn't know what I want when I put upward pressure on the handle. To be honest, I am not sure just what I want either, but I am interested in observing her reactions.
I will be using Lily as a counter balance. I immediately saw that Lily generalized the Step 1 "give in to the pressure" from her collar to the vest/handle. When I pull slightly to the side, she moves toward me. When I lift the handle for support, she is truly puzzled. She doesn't know how to move up into the pull!!!
Now I'm thinking about Brace (my Stand cue) and utilizing the Opposition Reflex! I may need to teach Lily to use her Opposition Reflex to counter balance, provide resistance against the handle. Hmmmmm.
"Counter balance" is a good term. Robin J introduced it to me as a description of how I intend using the new vest with the balance handle. Counter balance describes what I will be asking of Lily.
I learned when beginning the Emergency Telephone Retrieve to define my criteria BEFORE beginning the training. So although I will spend time with Lily wearing the vest and with me "experimenting" to determine how best to mitigate my needs.....I must also be very precise in defining those needs AND defining my criteria before training and before inadvertently sending signals to Lily which may be changed later.
From Sue:
IME, once the dog has a really good idea of and practise with LLW, adding a
slight pull on a harness or other type of collar and lead usually comes pretty
naturally. Since the tack I use for a slight pull is always different from the
tack I use for LLW, and since the dog already gives me LLW no matter what she's
wearing, I can merely add a tiny pressure to the new tack and reward when she
responds to my pressure by giving me her own. If she doesn't give me her own, I
can pull back a little harder and lure or encourage her forward, then click when
she responds by increasing the pressure. I'm always thrilled when I have to
encourage a dog to pull on the cart harness because as soon as she feels the
pressure of the cart holding her back she thinks "Oops, LLW!" and moves back to
relieve the pressure.
(BTW, this whole scenario starts with the dog standing still and me clicking her
for meeting my pressure just as I used to click her for giving to it).
When the dog starts to meet my backwards pull by pulling forward to match it, I
click her for that.
When she gets into the spirit of the thing (and nearly everybody does sooner or
later) and adds more pressure than necessary, I release the pressure I'm putting
on (for instance, drop the harness handle) and revert immediately to asking for
LLW on the regular tack.
The bottom line, then, is that MEETING my pressure is rewarded, but EXCEEDING it
is punished.
This is a very useful behaviour - not just for service dogs that will be pulling
or balancing people, but for guide dogs, for carting and sledding dogs, and for
show dogs, who are normally shown pulling forward into a tight lead (but not
pretending they're in a weight-pulling contest). I was really excited about how
quickly Syn understood the exact amount of pressure she was supposed to put on a
show lead, even considering that she already had extensive experience with LLW
and adding pressure with carting and balancing.
Sue Eh?
References:
- Steps to Service
- Vested/ Non Vested
- Teamwork II: Nordenson and Kelley (now on eBook format)
- bracing and pulling behaviors
- counter balance