Generalization

I learned something very interesting about Morgan and it has taken me 6 years to figure it out. The dog has a heck of a time generalizing AND LOOKING DOWN! It is amazing about the looking down part because it took her six months to realize there was stuff above her head. She was living with a toy and a mini and looking down was what she did. When she looked up, she never looked down again (unless I dropped food there :)

Today,I tried to practice our freestyle routine with tiny little pylons as compared to the big ones we have been using. She never saw the pylon and would not look at it when I tried to point it out. It seems she thought 'It is small, it is insignificant and I don't want to acknowledge it.' I realize some of her reaction was confusion but that knowledge didn't keep me from losing my temper with her. I started out with the clicker and why I didn't just shape the behavior, I do not know. It would have made the session so much happier. Yeah, I do know why I didn't shape it, it was because in my head, she already knew this sequence and I only had the clicker to increase the number of times she would need to do it. I was not willing to go backwards with her.

She eventually got it but not after I yelled at her "What is wrong with you?" 'Well what was wrong is that I don't generalize and you are going to have to teach it to me again, stupid,' (she probably thought).

I really wish I didn't get so mad at her. She is such a smart dog but I just have not figured out how her brain works. I can't do high reps with her and she loses attention quickly and when she is confused, she just checks out.

Training Pen is so much more fun.