FF240: Tricks for Titles

Week four is all about bringing one thing to put into another thing! We'll be teaching this as a concept using a neutral object and bowl and then generalizing it to the objects we want to use for our tricks. The tricks we'll learn this week include "Fetch", "Fetch a flat item", "Toys in a box" and "Basketball". 

This is an advanced demo of what you can do with the Thing in a Thing behavior in addition to the tricks we'll learn in this class.

To begin teaching this trick, you will need two objects. A bowl or box of some sort that is made of plastic or some other hard material as well as a smaller, retrieve object made of a hard material as well. The objects should make an audible noise when they make contact. 

Begin by teaching your dog to pick up and carry the retrieve object. You can do this by tossing the object out and marking any interaction with it. Then gradually change your criteria to mouth interaction and then picking up the object. Reward placement should be in front of you or slightly to your side. This will help encourage your dog to carry the object towards you when they pick it up. Build the carry by delaying your click longer and longer. 

Once your dog is picking up and carrying the object towards you, you can introduce the second object seperately. Place the bowl down and mark for any nose interaction. If your dog paws at the bowl, use reset rewards to get distance and mark quickly, before they have a chance to paw at it. Reward multiple times, putting the treats in the bowl itself. Then move the bowl to different locations around you.

When your dog is easily targeting the bowl with their nose, go ahead and re-introduce the retrieve object. Remove the bowl and toss the retrieve object out, once your dog picks up the object, replace the bowl. Mark for picking up and carrying the retrieve object, reward in the bowl. 

Delay your mark for longer and longer until your dog is dropping the retrieve object near the bowl. Jackpot for any object contact (should make a noise). Eventually, only mark for object contact and jackpot for when the retrieve object is dropped in the bowl. 

Once your dog is reliably dropping the retrieve object in the bowl, begin to move the bowl to different locations around you. You may have to step back in criteria slightly at this point, marking and rewarding for carrying the object towards the bowl and jackpot for contact as before.

You can also use a nose press into the bowl to help teach this behavior. Bring by holding the bowl and asking for your "smoosh" behavior, continue at this step until your dog is offering the nose press easily into the bowl no matter where you put it. Then introduce the retrieve object. Begin again by holding the bowl up and shape your dog holding the object and doing the nose press into the bowl at the same time. I like to use the "availability" of the bowl as a way to help my dog learn to keep the object in their mouth. So if they drop the object, the bowl is no longer available (I move it behind my back), once they pick up the object again, then the bowl reappears. 

Generalize to different retrieve objects and bowls, then find something fun like the stacking bowls or a toddler-sized basketball hoop to teach this with!