Monday, October 6, 2014

Positive Pet Training Blog Hop: 101 Things With a Box


This month for the positive pet training blog hop we were given the task of doing a post about 101 things to do with a box.  

For those that aren't sure about this ... there is lots of examples on YouTube and a Google search.  In short its a shaping exercise where you get behaviors/interactions with a box.  It teaches the dog to think and the human to be patient.

I tried this with both of my guys.  I did go longer than I should have for my videos and in normal training (when I'm not vidoeing) I do try and keep it at 2-5 minutes.

Tucker went first.  And you can tell he hasn't had as much experience with shaping.  I got a lot of staring so in his defense this was kinda unfair to him.  I should have been a better trainer and worked him up to this.  But he seemed to enjoy it anyways.  You can check his video out below.


I didn't get as much interaction as I would have liked.  But I tried to click when he would look at the box or touch it.  I eventually got him dipping his head in it (by cheating with throwing treats in there). 

Next I tried it with Teach.  What a difference!  Teach knew what I wanted.  I loved seeing him work because he was constantly moving his feet trying to figure things out.  Didn't take him long to start dipping his head in.  I wanted any kind of interaction with the box, not just one particular behavior.  Here's his video:


I need to remember this exercise for cold winter nights when they are bouncing off the walls.  After 5 minutes of this they were sleepy!  


Thanks to the hosts of this Blog Hop, Cascadian NomadsDachshund Nola, and Tenacious Little Terrier.


3 comments:

  1. Thanks for joining the hop this month. Shaping can be so difficult depending on the dog and the humans personality but 101 Things To Do With A Box is a great start so I don't think you were bad for starting Tucker off with it. What I have learned about shaping is that if the dog doesn't get what you want, you have to want less. Click for a head turn towards the box or even for eyes moving towards the box. This is how Amelia and I ended our staring session the first time we played. It only took three head turn clicks for her to touch her nose to the box and get a jackpot. Sometimes our pets are smarter than we give them credit for!

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  2. Tenacious Little TerrierOctober 6, 2014 at 2:38 PM

    Dogs new to shaping take a little while to get used to it. When I first started, Mr. N would just stare at me and whine. He'd be like tell me what to do!

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  3. This is how I'm feeling with my two. Pike is just like Tucker, and Nola's much more responsive, like Teach. It can be a little frustrating!

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