Sunday, March 9, 2008

Workin' the Step-Stool, Channels, and our Table

Today I did some work with Ike to build his rear end back up. We started with some easy channel work per Katrin's recommendation. I played the space game with him between my bed and the wall. Then we moved on to shaping the step-stool.

ManyMuddyPaws recommended the step-stool as a good way to work his rear and I thought it would be fun to shape it. Ike is very foot target oriented, so initially he was spinning around batting the base of the step-stool trying to figure out what the heck I could possibly want. Within 5 minutes he had his feet up on top of it but in terms of getting him to walk around the step stool (with his front feet still on the stool) I was only able to get him to take one step at a time with his rear legs. For a 15 minute training session it went really well. He hasn't quite figured out the point of the game yet, but he is having fun trying to figure it out. His little brain was working just as hard as his rear end. I will definitely continue this game.

I take great joy in watching him try different things, trying to figure out what I want. Remember, this is a dog that was not very operant; he used to sit and stare at me waiting for me to help him!

I also painted and added sand to my table. I decided to paint it orange. Orange is what I consider Ike's color. I went to Home Depot and picked out a fun subdued orange called carotene. I should finish it up tomorrow (hopefully!).

6 comments:

ann-and-partner said...

Love the picture! He's sooo cute.

Katrin said...

as in like "beta carotine" so it is the color of a Carrot??!!! :-P

Jules said...

Hee, hee....A very subdued carrot! ;-P As if ther eis such a thing!!!

Thanks Ann - that was in Acadia last summer.

manymuddypaws said...

for the stool- if you don't have success with shaping (and sometimes you won't as most dogs don't really understand how to use their back legs apart from their front) you can try just stepping into his side a little bit. C/T for when she shuffles over to get out of your way!
your table sounds really fun. I love orange. Our equipment is red and lime green- which is fun, but it's not orange!

Cat, Tessie, & Strata said...

I actually worked on this a little when I took Tessie to ABC a couple weeks ago.

I made this goofy little step stool in woodshop my freshman year that I need to try to find. I'm almost positive I didn't throw it out -- almost. It's perfect for a trick like this!

Jules said...

I will see how the step-stool goes tonight and add a little shuffle step in to see where it gets me.

I might try it with Carmen too.

It is really fun (sez Ike).