On behalf of Paws & Effect's Board of Directors, please accept our sincere appreciation for your willingness to further Tag's training and experiences as you travel. We hope you enjoy having Tag in your care; the time, patience and effort you invest will significantly impact somebody's life.
Tag has some very unique skills and the following information will help you recognize when he is using those skills instead of playing around.
1. Step backwards: it is important that he step backwards exactly three steps to be rewarded. Anything less or more is inaccurate. Tag learned this skill when he was nine weeks old and is quite adept; he will at times see if he can get away with either two or four steps. On these occasions, you may turn away from him for two or three seconds.
2. Place paw on a location: for now, that location is a blue dot from the game Twister. He very deliberately places his paw on the dot and looks up for a reward. Because his growth plates have not closed, I would prefer he continue to perform this task purposefully, without too much exuberance. Should he become too excited, either stop the training session or use a treat that is not as valuable.
3. Hold an item in his mouth: his willingness to hold an item is improving daily. He will accept an item that you hand to him, but may not always hold it for two or three seconds. If he takes an item from you and immediately lets it drop, use the same item and hold it while he tugs it from your hands. If he tugs hard (demonstrating that his mouth is firmly on the object) you may reward him. He will increasingly understand that you desire to have him hold an object over longer periods of time.
For now, none of these behaviors is on cue. During any given training session, Tag will "scroll" through a series of behaviors, sometimes in random order and sometimes, nearly scripted. When this happens, select one behavior from the above list and reinforce that behavior only. He will develop a rhythm in which he delivers the behavior, you will click and treat, and he will immediately deliver the behavior. When this happens, you will be ready to put the behavior on cue, which we can discuss in another post.
Tag has some very basic behaviors that include:
1. Sit
2. Down
3. Spin
4. Pressure On
5. Pressure Off
6. Go to place
7. Free
8. Load
9. Wait
10. Controlled Treat
11. Crate (door open)
12. Eliminate on concrete
13. Lean
14. Chin
15. Recall
16. Hand target
17. Tunnel
18. Frame
19. Jump (no more than 6")
(I'm sure there are a few more and I will make sure I modify this list over the course of the week.)
Almost all of his cues are hand signals. The only exceptions are his name and releaser. It is important that you continue to use the hand cues he has associated with a skill instead of adding a verbal cue. For the most part, your training sessions should be silent (except for the clicking sound.)
Thank you both, again, for helping Tag achieve service dog status, N.
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