 |
Re: [RC] blue heelers on trail - Deanna Germanon 5/21/03 4:40 PM, heidi sowards at ribbitttreefrog@xxxxxxxxx wrote: I missed a few of the original posts but have a couple of comments. I ride with my collie and started when he was about 1 year old. He has a tendancy to crouch and "hide" when he feels the horses are getting too close. Did this once while we were cantering up the trail, went right over him and he did get clipped with a non-shod hoof. I yelled "WATCH OUT" and from then on, that's all I have to say to let him know we are coming up on him. Ah, the power of operant conditioning. This experience left such an impression on him that he's conditioned to flee when you say WATCH OUT. How much better would it be to use positive reinforcement to teach the dog a move out word before they get clipped by the hoof. (Although I have to admit that I taught my dogs "git" while shooing them away then saying "gooood!" when they were an appropriate distance -- but they are also conditioned to know that the word "gooood!" said in a particular tone of voice is a reward. But that's operant conditioning too. I simply paired the word "gooood!" with a food reward and now only need to reinforce that sparingly now just to remind them that "goooood!" = something that gives them pleasure.) In fact, at home if he gets in my way, I can say "watch out" and he veers off out of my way. You have to say the same words in the same tone, people have ridden with me and they sometimes say things like, "get out of the way" "move" etc. and he won't respond. I'm amazed by the number of people who think that animals understand English. They can be taught an unlimited number "command words" but you have to be consistent and use them the same way and in the same voice tone. You taught him that WATCH OUT means to take a certain action. My husband's dog has a vocabulary large enough that I've lost track of how many words have specific meanings for him since he competes at obedience and in the field and also plans to do agility. He has 3 different recall words alone, two of which tell him to arrive back at the handler in a certain position and one that tells him that another command will follow, so get ready. He has two words so far for down, also situation dependent. And two words for Stay. And three words for what to do with whatever is in his mouth. That's the iceberg tip and this is a dog just embarking on a competitive career! The downside to a dog like this is that I have to think about what I'm saying and my husband and I have to agree what each command means. Thus how "git" came to be. Can't imagine him ever using "git" in a competitive situation! Knows the difference between my boots and reg. shoes and starts whining when the riding clothes and boots go on. It's his favorite thing to do. We have to sometimes sneak out of the house. My husband's dog knows the difference between our field training gear and the barn gear. How do we know that? He'll run to where his training bumpers are if we put on the field training gear. (He also puts himself in his kennel when I apply hairspray, knowing that's where I plan to put him when I leave.) Blue heelers in particular are such smart dogs it shouldn't take much to train Mary Lynn's to stay out a safe distance from the horses. Happy training! Deanna =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|