On to the next step with this behavior. I’m asking for a nice, square solid sit. One second count. Nose touch above her head. My hand target is within her reach so she doesn’t have to jump or really even move her body to it. Only her head. Hopefully, I’ll see the slightest bit of weight shift towards her back end.

(note: with new steps in the shaping of this, the original list will have to be redone.)

Session 1 :: Only problem is my sloppy handling. If she sits at an angle, she has a tendency to twist as she reaches for the hand target. I think I want her sitting straight on in front of me. Hmmm. Does that mean going back to shaping the sit and selecting for position. I think I’ll wait until after this next session and watch how bad the twisting is. I’m feeding this behavior in position.

Session 2 :: Patience. She’s doing really well. All I want to see is collection of the back. Keep sessions really short since the handler can’t seem to maintain her criteria for longer than about ten treats.

Next session. Same as before.

8. Dog sitting in a solid upright sit, eyes on handler, Click for upright sit - three seconds.

Short session on step 8. Waiting for some feedback on making the transition to step 7.

She offered a few sloppy sits. When she’s in a nice sit, I give her eye contact. When she’s in a sloppy sit, I look at the floor just beside her. The idea being that she’ll seek out my eyes and scootch herself into a neater sit. She definitely responded when she couldn’t get my eye contact and tried her sit again.

8a. Dog sitting in a solid upright sit, eyes on handler, Click for upright sit - two seconds.

Average session. One key thing to remember with Katy - don’t toss the treat so that she can lie down and reach it. Once she lies down, she may never get back up!

Many more sloppy sits were offered during this session than in the last session. I think there was an “aha” moment when I waited her out while she was laying down, then sat up kind of fast and I was able to click and treat. We were able to end with a couple of nice, 2-sec, straight sits.

We’re still on this step though.

7. Dog sitting in a solid upright sit, paws moving off of the ground. Click for either paw anywhere off of the floor or collection of body towards the upright position (straightening of back, backwards lean).

OK, maybe not. As anticipated, the transition from extending the time of the sit to expecting some sort of back collection didn’t go very well. I think I need to assist in getting the next step. I don’t want to lure with food, but I could use either a hand target or a target stick. Which then I’ll have to fade.

Without a target, after a wonderful 8 second, straight sit and stare, Ellie broke from position, started to lick the carpet, then her butt. Lay down. Then started doing sloppy sits interspersed with more carpet licking.

Time to go get some advice from the experts! Then back with more planning.

Update: Answer from Sue. Use the hand target as a lure, but fade it ASAP. As soon as she gets into the “sit-pretty” position, click for position before her nose actually hits my hand. Then fade the hand target fast.

Have You Washed Your Paws

8. Dog sitting in a solid upright sit, eyes on handler, Click for upright sit - three seconds.

Started with a few clicks just for a quick, straight sit. Then two clicks for a two second sit and then about 8 C/T for a three second sit. She’s ready to go to the next step.

Which is:
7. Dog sitting in a solid upright sit, paws moving off of the ground. Click for either paw anywhere off of the floor or collection of body towards the upright position (straightening of back, backwards lean).

For the first session, I’m going to look for collection of her back - not requiring her feet to come off of the floor. I think there is a good chance that when she doesn’t get the click for the three second sit, she’s going to move out of position and try something else. I want her to know that the next step is a progression from the straight sit. So that she understands she has to stay in the sit to get to the next step. We’ll see how this goes…

Have You Washed Your Paws

8a. Dog sitting in a solid upright sit, eyes on handler, Click for upright sit - two seconds.

Excellent session with Katy. Started with three sits for instant contact of floor with butt - straight, pretty sit. Then clicked for about 8 sits that lasted for 2 seconds.

If nothing else, Katy will have a much prettier sit after we finish this exercise.

Next step: All 2 second sits.

Here are the steps that I came up with for “Have you washed your paws”. This list is the second iteration of the steps. As I typed them up from my handwritten notes, I added at least two additional steps.

For each step, the trainer should identify the criteria and then write out exactly what they are going to click for. All with the goal of eliminating the “thinking” that we are tempted to do during the training session.

(1 is the finished behavior, then each prior step proceeds down the list. I would start my training with step 9)

Finished Behavior: 1. Dog sitting back on his hind end, paws up at his eye level, pads facing handler. Holds for three seconds.

2. Dog sitting back on his hind end, paws up at his eye level, pads facing handler. Hits the position, time in position doesn’t matter. Click for feet in position for any amount of time.

3. Dog sitting back on his hind end, paws moving off of the ground and up toward the dog’s eye level. Click for paws above chest level.

4. Dog sitting back on his hind end, paws moving off of the ground and up toward the dog’s eye level. Click for both paws anywhere off of the floor and dog holding upright position for up to three seconds.

4a. Dog sitting back on his hind end, paws moving off of the ground and up toward the dog’s eye level. Click for both paws anywhere off of the floor and dog holding upright position for up to two seconds.

4b. Dog sitting back on his hind end, paws moving off of the ground and up toward the dog’s eye level. Click for both paws anywhere off of the floor and dog holding upright position for up to one seconds.

5. Dog sitting in a solid upright sit, paws moving off of the ground. Click for both paws anywhere off of the floor.

6. Dog sitting in a solid upright sit, paws moving off of the ground. Click for either paw anywhere off of the floor.

7. Dog sitting in a solid upright sit, paws moving off of the ground. Click for either paw anywhere off of the floor or collection of body towards the upright position (straightening of back, backwards lean).

8. Dog sitting in a solid upright sit, eyes on handler, Click for upright sit - three seconds.

8a. Dog sitting in a solid upright sit, eyes on handler, Click for upright sit - two seconds.

9. Dog moves from any position into a solid upright sit. Click for upright sit - any amount of time.