Mo was working pretty well for food outside! We skipped filming the toy play, but I will film it later today for your reference. Here is our submission for Level 2:)
Front with a lure:
She did really well when I was consistent. About halfway through I realized I was delivering food to here and not getting her to take food for me. We will keep working on that.
Step into heel:
Mo likes to be on the move, especially if I'm on the move. So if I tried to step up to her side she would circle with me... I used her cue for circle me while I stand still to get her into the right position. Is that okay for now?
Basic with a wall:
She does really well next to a wall! One thing I want to work on is head position. I think I would like to have her head a bit straighter. I will switch up the place I'm feeding so that it doesn't bring her head in front of my body. I use her stick at the end and use the wrong marker when I toss it, so I just am like, "okay I'm done" haha.
Target, no verbal:
A few things, 1) I think my target is too small for her feet. So I'm going to use a hardback book for future practice. 2) She really doesn't like to do the target outside. She is all about it indoors, but when we take it outside she loses interest pretty quickly.
Re wrap finish: Your lure was spot-on then because it looked like a perfect wrap finish. That's why I asked! Wrap finishes are in the next level. She can sit for them; that's fine. We just won't combine wrap finishes withe the other heelwork for awhile. (And she honestly probably doesn't need a ton of practice with the wrap finishes since she already knows the around cue.)
Does she have a durational "touch" behavior or a chin rest? (I find the concept easier to teach in a chin rest because you can feed in the chin rest itself.)
As long as her head wrapping isn't causing her to swing her butt out of place, then it is completely aesthetic preference. But, I'm doing straight head with Cupid and can walk you through that.
You can absolutely use her verbal cue for target if that makes her more comfortable. :-)
I definitely will work on the front with clearer criteria for how she gets the treat. I definitely felt like she was getting frustrated with me for not being consistent... As per usual! 😂😭
She does not know a wrap finish, we just have worked on clockwise and I added the sit with a lure. I will get her to stand if that is better! I added in the sit because I thought we were supposed to. And I do really want the straight head even if it means we need to spend lots of time and add something new to make that happen! But I'm content with this for now.
I will get her a bigger target and practice on even terrain, and see if that changes her attitude. I think with the uneven ground, plus I usually cue her with a verbal to get her to target the bowl between reps, she was feeling a bit conflicted. She only gets up onto the bowl when I touch it in some way (which is how we originally taught it without the verbal - I move bowl, you put two front paws on)
Front with a lure -
Beautiful! That position and closeness is perfect.
You are skipping the direct lure (dog eats food continuously) (that's not a term I define in the curriculum FYI) and your hands are signaling her to sit with how they raise up. That's okay, because she's doing a beautiful tuck sit (and thus doing well staying close).
The difference between what happens in the first reps and the awkward last 2 is so subtle. I just rewatched a bunch of times! I think that an element is that in the last couple of repetitions you raise your hands up higher. Even if she sits super close, if your hands are higher, they are going to reach back down, because she's not supposed to jump up to get the food. (And when you second guess whether or not to deliver the treat, she scoots back more in frustration.)
If she sits too far back, just walk backwards a bit again and re-gesture your lure just like you do in the beginning of this video.
You can show me more updates but can check this off your list.
Heel -
Does she know a "wrap finish," or does she just know "clockwise" and this happened to be perfect?
Either way - I would actually love to run with your first rep against the wall where she stands. Let's do more of that. In an ideal world, I don't add automatic sits until the end-ish of a heelwork training program. This is because I want the dog to be able to tweak their position/correct their position, and they have a harder time re-adjusting if they are already in a sit. I think this is feasible for her based on how good that first rep looks. So let's do more of that!
It's no big deal if she sits, but I want to see if we can build the stand-stay in basic heel position.
If you want a really straight head, we can talk about adding a touch-target.
But you can see how she straightens out with this reinforcement procedure first.
Target -
Yeahhh, let her have a bigger one.
Any guesses why the difference in enthusiasm? I see that she is not thrilled about it.
You can still check this off your list since this level is just introductory foot targeting.