Jigsaw

I'm thinking out loud here, (half asleep too), by reinforcing behaviour you have built up a history so you've strengthened that behaviour through reinforcement (does that make sense?). Over time with reinforcement you've developed both a muscle memory ie sit means put bottom on ground and a reward history which is where the dopamine hit Corvus mentions comes in. From memory didn't Lindsay mention that surprise is the biggest reinforcer such as using a reward that is unexpected (the dopamine hit transfers from the reward to the click in time, so the click becomes a reward in itself). It might be treats or it might be tug and it's the dopamine rush associated with that reward that reinforces the behaviour. If I used kibble as a reward for a sit I will get a reasonable sit but if I throw a ball for a sit that I think is "just right" will my dog remember that and repeat that performance again in the hope that she will get the ball again, yes! (Hmm sleep beckons, I'm not sure I'm making sense!)

I would advise seeing a professional to help you out. On the rare occasion there possibly is (or has been in the past) an underlying medical issue that causes a dog to be sensitive to where your hands are going and care is needed not to further sensitise the dog to collar grabs.

I'm checking dates etc to see if I can do the weekend. I think it's an opportunity not to be missed!

You could also try using a long line. It cuts back his options to self reward with the ball and if you need you can give him some assistance in coming back to you. Some dogs only need a bit of work to understand that they need to bring the toy back, others lots of work (which is my girl!!) If he does return the ball to you don't try and wrestle it from his mouth if he is unwilling to give it up. Try touching his body gently and he should relax and let it go. I've found that ending the game and leaving or turning my back works as even though she may still have the toy it usually only stays in her mouth for a short time after I take my attention away. If there's no audience to taunt it's not quite as much fun. When I return to her even if she still has the toy she usually surrenders it now (mind you that has taken some training) and the game is ended, no reward, no praise. But we are still working on it.

Awesome news! Here's to a long and happy life Charlie!

I use toys for training purposes so my dog doesn't have free access to toys. If I'm going to be out for a long period of time I will leave her with a treat ball and kong or stuffed toilet rolls. If I did leave toys out for her I would only have two or three available at a time and then rotate them every week or few days depending how they were played with.

:D Just as well they didn't have PMS then.

Glad to see you back posting Jed. Your love for your lost ones shows bright and true in your beautiful tributes. I hope your journey to full health is without complication and that you will soon be surrounded by wagging tails with sloppy kisses and lots of cuddles from your other dogs.

I was having a discussion last night about chickens being happy!

Did they get any chocolate though??

This is Stevie a 2 yr old Cocker Spaniel that was born blind. Stevie has successfully met certification standards in Human Remains Detection. This is a couple of clips of him training - he does one major bump into a trailer but you wouldn't know he was blind. I love watching his tail wagging while he's working!

I think I would put in first something about why a lure is sometimes used for teaching a behaviour and then continue with your essay.

What a lovely tribute to Tina, I've had to bring the tissues out. Running free, no pain and knowing she was well loved.

She's beautiful!! Hope she finds the right home for her!!

If you look up Wingecarribee Council off leash parks you should find some. Although from memory (I looked the other week on the web when I was down there) there aren't many off leash parks. There may be a local who may be ae to give you more info though.

I like some of the exercises in this video - jumping over people and the egg and spoon race! http://www.youtube.com/user/ladstwo#p/u/6/GMPC_Fj_UF8

She's got a good set of lungs on her that's for sure and she obviously knows what she's doing! Great to see someone so young participating in dogsport and such an impressive example.

That sounds like the right one Corvus, he said something along the lines of "wolves don't look back". He stated he disproved their study very easily! Vilmos Csanyi's book "If Dog's Could Talk" is based on his personal observations of his own dogs interspersed with various studies. I found a few of his observations a little on the whacky side! I think Coppinger tends to more or less play it straight down the line on a scientific basis. There is always going to be conflict in studies, whether it be the topic or the content, I guess it's part of what pushes us on to discuss and learn more.

That's cheaper than the local op shop!

I do believe the study with the wolf cubs vs puppies did have hand-raised wolf cubs in it. Well, I think there has been a few. This one is the one I was thinking of: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=A...157066edf268788 Not sure if this is the exact study that Ray Coppinger referred to last night in a telecourse I did but he was quite disparging of a comparitive study done along these lines by Hungarians!

dogs are with people the moment they are born, we mould them to be companion animals. We touch them, talk to them, they smell us all the time, then we feed them, socialise them etc. We take over the role of their mother - sort of like hand rearing baby birds who then become more bonded to their human then to other birds and lose some wild bird traits. I can tell you I have seen dogs untouched by humans until 8 weeks and they act completely differently to your normal puppy. WOlf pups again are not raised with human contact, they are not TAUGHT to be reliant on people for everything. THose dogs and pups not raised around people did not immediately rely on the owner, they worked things out for themselves, and you could see the detatchment. They went to the owner for a treat like a dispenser, yet they were just so independent. I think if you want a valid study raise some domestic dogs out with wolves and see if they fare any better. Or raise some wolves/dingoes in a domestic litter from birth (one pup per litter so there is no chance of copying one another) and see what happens then. You cannot just say that it is purely genetic the effects that have been measured. I agree with Nekhbet. I don't think there is an innate desire in dogs to look to humans to solve problems for them, I think this is probably a learned behaviour as Nekhbet described we take over the role of their mother. This is why the first 8 weeks of a pup's life are so important. Early neurological stimulation is thought to improve performance of dogs in competitive situations. If you think that dogs looking to humans to solve their problems is because they are hard-wired to do it how has this happened? I don't think it's genetically programmed into them, which to say it's innate or hard-wired I would think it would be.

As a thought could problem solving skills of domestic dogs be influenced by early upbringing? Could the development of why, what, how and where in domestic dogs be more limited due to the influence of human involvement in very early stages of puppies?

I'd love to see it when you've got it!! My cat sits on my shoulders as I walk around, except she's usually backwards so I get the rear end in my face. If I pick her up that is where she scrambles up to and rides around. She just a bit heavy at around 6 kilos to sit on my shoulder like a parrot for long!! Dismounting usually involves claws and the nearest surface I can lower her onto so there's less claws!

Have you filmed any of your training? How is she dismounting? Because I would imagine that you'd get one hell of a push off with maybe some bruises!!