A Lat Rave

[sheena]

LAT......I love it :D After all the flak I got from the others at training, my instructor wants me to explain the technique to a newcomer in the class who has a reactive BC. I know what I am doing myself, but to teach it to someone else Maybe I will start by printing out as much info as I can about it & handing it to him to read. :D

Edited November 2, 2011 by sheena

[corvus]

Yay, Sheena!

Don't forget Leslie McDevitt has a YouTube channel where you can see some of the games being played. I think you can also buy short videos of the games from CU separately and view them online/download them. Check Clean Run or Dogwise. They are very cheap.

[snippet]

Corvus this is exactly what I need for Snips, she is so distracted by everything and sets of everyone else. I ordered the book yesterday. Thank you!

[sheena]

Yay, Sheena!

Don't forget Leslie McDevitt has a YouTube channel where you can see some of the games being played. I think you can also buy short videos of the games from CU separately and view them online/download them. Check Clean Run or Dogwise. They are very cheap.

Thanks Corvus, I had forgotten about the YouTube channel she has. I am getting a lot out of the book but I find her a bit irritating to watch. I just wish she would tie her hair back so I can see her face.

[Kiara&Heidi]

Is this right?:

1. I see something I know my dog will react to

2. I say "look at that" to alert my dog to the stimulus

3. Dog looks at stimulus

3. I click

4. Dog looks at me

5. I give my dog a treat

But then, what do I do if my dog looks back at the stimulus as soon as I give the treat? Click and treat again? I'm kind of worried I'm doing it wrong and encouraging her to be reactive...

[corvus]

Is this right?:

1. I see something I know my dog will react to

2. I say "look at that" to alert my dog to the stimulus

3. Dog looks at stimulus

3. I click

4. Dog looks at me

5. I give my dog a treat

But then, what do I do if my dog looks back at the stimulus as soon as I give the treat? Click and treat again? I'm kind of worried I'm doing it wrong and encouraging her to be reactive...

That's the bare bones of it. If your dog looks back as soon as you give the treat, that's okay. Just click and treat again. You won't encourage her to be reactive as long as she is not over-threshold when you click and treat her. If she's staring fixedly, barking, up on her toes or doing any of the obvious things she does when she's reacting, then get some distance and calm her a little first.

[sheena]

Yep....when the dog looks back at the stimulus, immediately click, she turns to you & you treat. The idea is that instead of the stimulus stressing the dog, it becomes part of the dogs "trick resume". Like when my dog knows I have treats, she will immediately start going through all the tricks she knows to get me to click & treat & "looking" at something has become, just another trick instead of being a boogy-man. If you click & the dog does not turn immediately back to you, then you have gone too far, too quick & need to back pedal. You don't need to tell your dog to look, but you can. But click & treat everytime she offers to look. You know you are getting somewhere when she looks at the stimulus & turns to you before you have time to click....BIG rewards for this, like SLOOOOOOOOOW TREATS Leslie says it is a good idea to incorporate other tricks your dog knows as well, so you might play a bit of LAT, then some hand touches, waves etc....do you get what I mean. I have the job of explaining this all to someone at training on Monday night & I am very nervous he wont "get it" or worse he will think I am mad. But I have already told him that most people who don't understand the principals of LAT think you are mad & lost your marbles....he looked at me very strange, like I had two heads.

[RubyBlue]

This sounds great - going to try it.

[Kiara&Heidi]

Thanks Corvus and Sheena that makes sense. I think I have been doing it right then.