Luke W

Ahh...but you are not treating after each mark. In my case the mark is a 'click' or a verbal maker ('boop') and the 'clicker should never lie' - a treat should always follow a click. Well, that's one theory any way!

Yep - use jackpotting. Often I finish a session with a jackpot, or you a jackpot when he does a behavior particularly well. I plan to go for obedience titles so I need to get him working well with the promise of rewards after however long it takes to get a pass.

Do you mark before treating? So.. "Sit" Click Treat Free ?

PS - I should add...my 'intermittent' is a bit 'variable'. Sometimes it's 2, sometimes 3, some times 4...

Nice post - thanks S'n'T. I have trouble maintaining use of a release word. Must start doing that! So it's: Sit Down Free Treat Stand Free Treat Heel Sit Free Treat ??? I think he demand barks when I'm not treating enough and barks in "what the hell do you want" mode during free shaping! Your point about not wanting to do things over and over again might be close to the mark too - I don't have a heap of behaviors yet, so he does a lot of sitting and downing! Too much probably. The 5 second turn around...that's pretty much what my 15sec time out is like. Thanks again. I really need dog school to start up again!

OK - you've learnt OFF from Dunbar right? Me too. Most people here use the command "LEAVE" for what you've taught "OFF". You'd use your "OFF" command to tell him to not eat that, to stop sniffing that, to get away from that dog. Basically, it's a command that says "LEAVE IT ALONE". You'd need a different command to tell him to get off the couch. For me, that's "ON YA MAT". A command to tells him to do something is better than a command that tells him not to do something. As for when to introduce hand signals. I introduce them, first - before the verbal. The verbal should not be introduced until the dog has the behavior. for example, when teaching the down/drop a la Dunbar. You lure into the down. Then you remove the treat form the hand and 'lure' with an empoty hand. Then you stylize the lure motion into a hand signal. Then when he's got that you introduce the verbal, 1 second before the hand signal. I use DOWN too. Not DROP. As already said - you have to get it clear in your mind exactly what each command means. It should be very specific. Re hand signals... I don't really have a hand signal for OFF...the dog aint gunna be looking at me when I need to use it! Hand signal for down..I have two now...hand sweeping down, palm facing down. Also, a new one for longer distance work: two hands palm facing backwards, moving from center of body to outside of body.

Fortunately, I've noticed the signs early!

For heeling, I have indeed used food as a lure to keep him at my side - and I probably didn't fade it quickly enough. And I'm now paying the penalty. For other behaviors, I've mostly lured (sits, downs, spins, move to heel, etc) but faded the lure very quickly. The stand I finally mostly shaped (after so many failures luring, shaping, lifting him up etc). I think I suck at shaping, but I'm getting better. I think my reinforcement rate when shaping isn't high enough and I don't have a good feel for when to pay and when to up the criteria. Barkly tends to get frustrated and barks when I try to shape him (as soon as I try to up the criteria). I have succeeded in shaping him to put his front paws on a small tuppaware container and follow me round in circles with his back legs - but it took a while. Re the time out thing - I try to end sessions on a high and to prevent the demand barking, I have to increase the payout rate...catch 22 hey. Where does he get food? - where ever the excercise finished usually Eg..for a recall and front, he's in front. For a return to heel, he's at my side. Sometimes I throw food for him to catch - eg. For 'go to mat' - I'll often throw the food to him. Thanks for your thoughts! Added There's a Delta trainer nearby that hold 'tricks training classes' (a prelude to doggy dancing). She's a pretty good shaper. Maybe I should get some help with my shaping skills.

Barkly is super focused and happy if I've got food in my hand, on the bench, etc. As long as he knows it there, he's willing to work. But we've got some problems. 1. As I try to move to an intermittent reinforcement schedule, he gets frustrated and 'demand barks', winges and carries on. For example, he'll do a sit, then a down, on the third or so command without a treat, he starts getting grumpy. Sometimes he'll bark, sometimes he'll start whining, sometimes he'll just decide he's had enough and walk off. When he does his little tantrum, I try to break the session for 15 seconds (a negative reinforcer I guess) or so and up the rate of reinforcement when we resume. 2. I'm trying to get the food off me (out of my pockets) and getting him to run to a treat bag. In addition to the problems in '1' above - his focus when heeling is almost non-existant when I don't have have food in my left hand or left pocket. Any suggested videos, books, or any advice at all in reducing his reliance on food - especially his need for immediate gratification? Does Bob Bailey or Ted Turner cover this stuff? BTW - I'm not very good at explaining what the problem is. I'm not sure if I'm just trying to move too quickly. Should I just concentrate on 2 commands per treat for a while (a month say), then move to sometimes using 2 commands/treat sometimes 3 commands/treat...and just really gradually increase like that over a period of months? How do I keep focus in heeling without food in my hand/pocket? How many steps and turns should he be heeling between treats? BTW - He's 10mo old. ---- Added Oh - I also want to swap food for tug - but he still seems more food focused than tug focused - although he does like tug - just not as much as food!

For the OP: How old is the pup? And for the more experienced...(of which I am not one, this is my first ever ppup!) ...how long do others think a 9wk (if that's how old it is) should be able to hang on? I thought it was one hour for every month of age + 1... So at 9 weeks - about 3 hours is how long it should be able to hold on.

I seem to remember mine did pretty much the same thing (was that only 8 month ago?!?). The crying time got shorter and shorter though. So did the length of time between toilets. I'd keep doing what you are doing.

At the moement - I organise by date and each 'shoot' is contained in a folder. Each folder looks like this: 20081226 Keyword1 Keyword2 Keyword3.... So for example: 20081226 Boxing Day Beach Family Barkly 20080824 Melbourne Zoo Animals 20080402 Vacation Queensland Noosa Fraser Island Animals Dolphins I'm now started to build a hierarchical set of keywords that'll I'll use in Lightroom. That's a big job! Here's some keyword lists I found on Google: http://www.outsight.com/stocksearch.php http://www.imagesbrighton.com/keywords.htm http://www.esmondephotography.com/viewKeyw...p;cat=651618618

My family have had good experiences with Kodaks.

I'm about to embark on a new workflow using Lightroom. This will involve importing all my images into Lightroom, adding keywords and copyright data. It'll be quite a project. There's quite a bit on the net about using Lightroom as a digital asset management tool. Here's a couple I'm starting with: http://blogs.oreilly.com/lightroom/2008/06...l-workflow.html http://www.organizepictures.com/2008/05/ad...word-management

A thought that crossed my mind.. On the issue of tug toys. It's arguable that they aren't 'attached' or 'worn'. Is something that is held in the hand 'attached'?

Wow - where do I start? First of all, my dog is my best friend. I want to have a deep connection with my dog. I understand we have different minds that work different ways. He can connect in his way, I can connect in mine. I want him to enjoy being with me. I want him to be happy. I want to see the sparkle in his eyes and the wag of his tail I want him to trust me and to listen to me. Never to cringe or duck his head. To come eagerly when called. To check in with me when he's not called. To look back and make sure I'm still coming. When his time is up - I'd like to be able to look back and think to myself..."Wow, what an amazing, excellent life he lead. The best." OK, now for the training...Note: I'm not there yet. These should all be heavily conditioned reponses. I'd like him to do these things because he can't help it - it makes him happy. Recalls - always, immediately, happily, a conditioned response. Immediate 100% focus whenever I call his name. Food refusal. Never eat anything that isn't explicitly given. Actually, let's take that one step further - never take anything into his mouth that isn't explicitly given. An off switch..."All done. Off ya go" An on switch..."Play?" A super solid stay. Perfect lead walking. Perfect off lead walking. That's the general stuff that I can think off. Of course I'd like to get Ob. Ch. and Ag. Ch. Good thread, it's made me think about my general goals.

Congrats - that's a great present! Note: It might take a bit of getting used to! It took me several(!!!) hours to start to get the hang of it.

It's soooo hard cowanbree. Time consuming and difficult. Hair, fur, smoke and fire...it doesn't get much harder than those. Some techniques are better than others but most of the time it just comes down to mega-loads of patience, working at 200% or greater and using a Wacom tablet. Each image is different and different techniques work better for different images. He's a trick you may not have considered which I've just started playing with... Rather than trying to create the perfect selection around individual hairs, paint on your own hairs after your cut out the image. You'll probably need a Wacom and some skill in creating Photoshop brushes - but it's another skill to tie to your belt. The following book comes highly recommend (haven't read it myself). Photoshop Masking and Compositing by Katrina Eismann

naah. Well, apart from a lovely walk along the beach on Boxing Day

Thanks to everyone for your kind and warm words, in this thread and others and via PM. They are hugely appreciated. Sincerely. I'm much better now and I'm looking foward to participating again. Thanks again.. The new, improved Luke.

.

.

.

.

.