Hi we have been working with Jack everyday several times a day with Marker training and we are just wondering when we should move into the ob. We both feel he has the marker down, just wondering if we should move into the OB now or should be stay with the marker for a while longer?

 Quote: Corina Peterson

Hi we have been working with Jack everyday several times a day with Marker training and we are just wondering when we should move into the ob. We both feel he has the marker down, just wondering if we should move into the OB now or should be stay with the marker for a while longer?

Good for you!


D'you mean that you have been charging your marker? If so .... when you click (or say your verbal marker), does the dog now look for the reward? That is, does he now completely associate that sound with a tangible reward?

I would have to say the answer is YES. He knows when we say "Good" there is a reward coming.
He stands across the kitchen and if he makes an appropriate action we say "Good" he immediately comes to us looking for his reward.
ie. looks in eyes (not hands), sits, lays or if we say his name and he starts coming to us.

 Quote: corina peterson

I would have to say the answer is YES. He knows when we say "Good" there is a reward coming.
He stands across the kitchen and if he makes an appropriate action we say "Good" he immediately comes to us looking for his reward.
ie. looks in eyes (not hands), sits, lays or if we say his name and he starts coming to us.

I'm a little confused. Did you charge your marker first or did he learn the connection between marker and reward along the way? (Charging the marker doesn't involve any "appropriate action," or any action on his part at all. It's just "cement the connection between marker and reward.")

Have you read any of the marker-training material here or looked at any of the free video clips? I'm not saying anything is wrong or off to a bad start, but clarity will really make it easy for you.

http://leerburg.com/markers.htm

http://leerburg.com/pdf/markers-clickers.pdf


While I'm being super-picky , "good" is a really common everyday word, so if you have definitely chosen it for your marker, you might have to really make a concerted effort not to use it in other situations, such as when an owner says "Good boy" just for the heck of it. But if it works for you, that's fine. (I chose "yes" because it's less likely for me to say it to the dog in everyday "dog conversation.")

OK, so that said, and if you are certain that the marker is charged (that is, if you say "good" completely out of the blue, unrelated to an action on his part, he looks for the reward; this is just for charging/loading, of course), then maybe you want to try something very simple, like sit.

Do you know how to lure the dog into a sit with a piece of high-value food (without actually pushing his butt down or, in fact, actually touching him in any way)?


eta: If you are planning any DVD purchases, this would absolutely be my recommendation for first choice: http://leerburg.com/219.htm



Edited by Connie Sutherland (07/31/2010 04:25 PM)
Edit reason: eta