Benefits Of A Shaped Dog In Everyday Life!

tigerlily46514

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
Sara, i wonder if this video might be helpful to Mouse? to help Mouse shift her att'n off of the food? Probably you HAVE already done these exercises, sorry if i am posting an idea you already tried. I just can imagine, how when one is dealing with a dog who has limited input from other senses, that such a dog like Mouse, might be ESPECIALLY challenging to help with food obsession, since that is a sense that Mouse CAN fully enjoy, and possibly, Mouse might have less other stimulus (things heard, things seen) to compete against taste being NumberOne piece of her mind who knows, but, i can imagine, how it might be so so much harder for Mouse to find a way to find anything else to focus on besides food sometimes.


Buddy is also very food obsessed, and i had to train him "leave it" pretty early on, to help him focus in the presence of food, to help him break his laser-like 500% focus on the food.O_o

besides this video below, just teaching Mouse a plain "leave it" cue, (google kikopup "leave it" to see her vid on that)
who knows, even teaching Mouse the "leave it" concept, *might* be helpful to Mouse to develop even more self control/new ability to focus on other stuff in the presence of food, etc etc. who knows?

 
sara

sara

Moderator
Staff member
Ha ha Mouse already has a good leave it in certain circumstances, but of course, uncontrolled circumstances dont work, as Mouse is running her nose along the ground when out for walks, and totally not looking at me LOL She is a completely different dog than Scout, for sure, who'll give eyecontact every few seconds. Mouse will not, she might miss something on the ground!

Her nose is definitely her strongest sense, and she is extremely driven by her nose.
 
tigerlily46514

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
I think regular, frequent training has helped sharpen up Buddy's thinking and problem solving skills.
During times i have slacked off, not trained Buddy often, he gets duller in some hard to define way, jsut not as interactive, not as tuned in, even a bit more wild/less biddable, maybe......hard to explain.

But, when he gets lessons on a regular basis, he sort of "comes alive" and seems to be a better thinker all around.

If i do NOT train Buddy regularly, i have a bit of trouble with the lessons. Buddy can't settle down, he is too excited, even a bit spazzy, can't focus as well, is not as "plugged in" for the lesson, hard to explain, but, it's way way harder for me to train *my* dog if i have not been keeping him in training steadily. It's almost as if, Buddy has become rusty at remembering how to do lessons.
If i only trained Buddy about once a week or so, I bet, i would think Buddy is "hard to train" or "can't get luring" or "can't get shaping" or something. I bet i would have that impression.

But, when i train him regularly, and frequently, he is so so so so much easier to train. (usually;) ) It is hard to explain, but, i have noted this repeatedly, in the years i've been working with Buddy. Buddy even seems to have some part of his brain turned up more, some part that tells him, "pay att'n for rewards, you CAN get rewards"
lol, i know i am not explaining this well, so if you don't understand,
the fault is mine, not yours.:ROFLMAO:

I guess i am kind of the same way, though :rolleyes:
if i haven't studied for a long time, i find it hard to settle down and focus well, and get distracted/feel urge to do something else, etc.
But, when i study regularly, and often, it is easier for me to keep good habits and focus well.(usually;) )
 
tigerlily46514

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
it wasn't that hard to teach this to a dog, if you begin with low value stuff, and work your way up, slowly, setting dog up for success. I only suggest it, as, it *might* help a food-obsessed dog to develop some self control, ability to focus on something else than food??, etc.

worth a try, anyway.
 
tigerlily46514

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
//YOU try living with a vegetarian then ! :p//

:ROFLMAO: i have, for decades, even i was vegetarian but not currently, (but i eat very little meat, and mostly fish) but my carnivore guy has corrupted most of us, but not all of us. My vegan daughter still buys meat for her dog, though, and does understand, dogs eat meat.

but, that is my "squeamy" daughter,:rolleyes: and it IS admittedly hard for her to buy meat, or handle meat. Yet, she does, and will, even though it's hard, cuz, she understood that going in--- that owning a dog means feeding the dog what a dog eats, not what she eats.
 
running_dog

running_dog

Honored Member
LOL went on a forest walk today, there was a tunnel and hurdles for the dogs, also some wooden poles set in the ground for dogs to do weaving.

I tried to lead/lure Zac round the poles but he just looked obtuse and bounced at the poles. When I left him alone he stood up with his front paws on the top of a pole, finally he "hugged" a pole and rested his chin on the top.

I love to see him thinking up new ways to interact with objects so I couldn't help but click and treat... so much for weaving :rolleyes:.
 
tigerlily46514

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
awwww. i bet that looks sooooo cute!!:ROFLMAO: so cute indeed!!
I can't even picture how cute that'd look!! Yeah, i would have had to click THAT!!;) ! sweeeeet!!
I bet you had a marvelous day!!

Buddy found weaving a bit hard at first, and it did take more than "one lesson"!:rolleyes: but, for Buddy's weave poles, i removed every other pole for a while, which of course, one can't do with trees!!:ROFLMAO::rolleyes:
 
running_dog

running_dog

Honored Member
tigerlily46514 said:
i removed every other pole for a while, which of course, one can't do with trees!!
Click to expand...
They were quite widely spaced posts but I'd probably not teach weave using them if I actually wanted to teach weaving - if that makes sense :confused:? They just happened to be there so I thought we'd try them... when it came right down to it Zac had much much better ideas all of his own!
 
sara

sara

Moderator
Staff member
Well, I dont know about a steak, but I can put a piece of hot dog on the floor in front of her and walk away (though I've never actually left the room). She stares at the food the entire time, even when I'm feeding her for looking up... she cant NOT look at it :)
 
tigerlily46514

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
WOW, Sara, for a food obsessed dog, THAT is awesome!! great start, THAT IS HUGE!!!
but, i bet if you focused on that as a main goal for Mouse, i bet you could get Mouse to actually ignore the food, i bet you could!
Kikopup "leave it" tutorial might be helpful, and her method seems somewhat related to shaping, i think. It is not how i taught "leave it" but, knowing you and Mouse, i think the kikopup way would appeal to Mouse far far more than my way would. I bet I bet, with all your talent, Sara, i bet you could bring Mouse even one more notch further into totally ignoring the food, i bet if anyone could, it'd be you.
sure wouldn't be the easiest thing you've ever done, but, i'd bet a frozen kong that if anyone could bring an almost blind, deaf, food-obsessed dog to be able to ignore food, it'd be YOU, Sara!!
 
tigerlily46514

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
dumb question:
can Mouse tell if you are, or not, in the room, if you are wayy over by the door? Probably, right? I just got to picturing how astonishing this "hotdog leave it" is, impressive for ANY dog, but especially FOR MOUSE!!! and tried to imagine, if a deaf, almost blind dog can tell if the human really did leave the room or not.
(has nothing to whatsoever to do with "leave it" i just got curious)
 
sara

sara

Moderator
Staff member
Yes she can tell if I'm in the room, she can smell me :) When I come in and she's in her crate, unable to see me, she still knows I'm there. And she can see my shape as long as I dont change the light levels on her. She is completely blind for about 10 minutes (bumps into stuff) if I turn the lights off or on.
 
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