Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Ike and Learning

Ike's default position when he didn't know what I wanted used to be the sit. He was not a thinking dog.

Very slowly I was able to convince him if he thought for himself he wouldn't be struck down by a tall scary man with a hat and an umbrella.

Last night Ike and I were playing with his target plates (yes, he has multiple target plates - he thinks they are great fun!) and I added his pink kitty and an empty margarine container. I decided I would up the ante and change the object I wanted him to target at random and he had to figure out which one I wanted him to pounce on through trial and error. It was SO much fun to see him run over and pounce, look at me, wag his stub, and pounce on another plate until he heard the "click" of success.

Ike enjoys this game so much, he grins the entire time and his little stub wags like mad. It makes me so happy to have a thinking dog, and I think Ike's life is much richer for it.

7 comments:

Katrin said...

So cool!!!!!!! Remember how long it took you to wait him out and wait and wait and wait :-) You both have patience that saints would love to have.

Jules said...

It was SO daunting. I mean, after four years of never having him think that is all I wanted him to do. He LOVES it now!

Katrin said...

He was just so funny. He was SO sure he was right! That all he had to do was just sit there and eventually he would be rewarded or helped. It is beyond AWESOME that he now likes to play the thinking game with you!

ann-and-partner said...

This sounds very interesting. I don't know what this game is but I think I'd like to find out about it. Could you tell me where I could find the info?

Katrin said...

Sure. Google- clicker training and you'll get a lot of stuff. I'll send you an e-mail with some links as well that I like. The main one is www.clickertraining.com

Jules said...

Ann, This is a good one too:

http://www.wagntrain.com/Target.htm

ann-and-partner said...

Goody...Thank you both.