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Ermmm- May I Ask A Piggie Question ?


persephone
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;) I am not one for trick training in dogs- never have.

April gets a bit of training each day.. not much- just something for her to think about :) She knows 'sit' and that she will not get a treat if she sits there with her mouth open/head moving. She comes when called, and will put her trotters up onto an indicated spot- like a log/chair/fence... That's about it.Oh- and she has always toileted on command. I'm slack .

Now- I have been getting her to lift/wave one trotter when she is standing up on her box or whatever. She is now 'offering' ( is that the right term?) without being asked ;) I just ignore- call her off that position, and do a couple of sits etc..then throw in the command for what she offered.

What can I do different so she doesn't anticipate?

Shame she can't do it comfortably whilst sitting - BUT when she does try, her head nods- so I am now working on just the head movement :laugh:

Pigs bodies are such different mechanics to dogs- movements/reach etc. are interesting :laugh:

she gets treats for correct actions. My last pig loved pats/scratches- this little piggies just loves FOOD- altho I do icorporate a behind the ear rub with the treat(and a vocal praise).

Thankyou :laugh:

(It's her first B/day soon !!!)

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I would just keep doing what you are doing and not reward the behaviour. Are the behaviours on cue?

The thing is though, isn't it good that she is offering behaviours, giving you a chance to reward different things and perhaps adding new tricks to her repetoire?

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No i dont think its good that shes offering behaviours, she is simply doing what in the past has scored her a treat. As far as i know you have to ignore all the tricks she does that arent on command.

Do you have any photos of her on DOL? I love piggies and would love to see her.

We are buying an acreage in the enar future and one of the first things i am getting is a piggie (or 2)

SOrry i'm no help re her tricks :laugh:

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Now- I have been getting her to lift/wave one trotter when she is standing up on her box or whatever. She is now 'offering' ( is that the right term?) without being asked :( I just ignore- call her off that position, and do a couple of sits etc..then throw in the command for what she offered.

What can I do different so she doesn't anticipate?

Very cute!

I'm having a similar problem with my dog at the moment actually. For us, I think it's a combination of several things:

a) some commands are more "fun" for her (better known/have a stronger reinforcement history) than others,

b) she's often too excited to bother to make the effort to actually listen to me, and

c) so far there's no penalty in being wrong (I just give her another chance).

So when she's particularly excited she'll quite often "try" a sit when I go to give a command instead of listening to what I actually want. Then she will correct herself a moment or two later, or wait for a second command to correct herself, to get the reward. I think she's gambling - after all, sometimes the sit pays off, when I have co-incidentally actually asked for a sit! :laugh:

I've just instituted time outs for incorrect responses. By that I mean, I've started telling her "too bad!" when she gives the wrong response and stopping the game for 20 seconds. Will see if that makes a difference. Hopefully it's enough of a penalty to encourage her to actually listen to what I'm saying, while still being a mild enough punishment not to lower her drive for the game.

Not sure if that's helpful or not. I guess you could also try not asking for her favourite commands for a few weeks, while asking for (and heavily rewarding) the less favoured ones, so her predilection to offer them becomes more "balance" (so to speak!)

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Personally I don't think anyone should answer the OP UNTIL WE GET PICS!!!!!

:laugh:

No pics of her doing stuff- as the times we walk the rest of the household is in bed- and she doesn't stop still long enough(yet) for me to manouevre a camera and wave a treat !

I am thinking- she does get a 'special' treat for the 'wave' trick..maybe I should discontinue that now?

here is 'her' thread... LINK

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Personally I don't think anyone should answer the OP UNTIL WE GET PICS!!!!!

I am thinking- she does get a 'special' treat for the 'wave' trick..maybe I should discontinue that now?

Ha, well I'd keep waving too! :laugh:

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