Quote: elizabeth anderson

I have a problem remembering to switch hands. Which means after I say "yes" she looks to my right

I have that problem too! I have to be totally aware of myself doing it before I fix it.

Jenny, try doing little sessions during commercials...sitting or standing. Thats how I started marking mine. I also did it with about half of their dinner one night. Just sat there and said "yes" and threw a kibble piece. It wont take long at all, they pick it up real quick .

I am always loading the marker as it helps my dogs to focus on me but I do have a question. As the dog begins to understand the marker, do you guys shorten the loading time before you begin your training sessions or just try and stay consistant as possible and do let's say 5 minutes of loading before each training session?

I'm just asking as there as there are quite a few members here who have been doing marker training with there dogs consistantly longer than I have with mine. I still load the marker before each session with the dogs but it is used to help get the girls focused on me before we get into the real training.

-Lamarr

 Quote: lamarr couttien

I am always loading the marker as it helps my dogs to focus on me but I do have a question. As the dog begins to understand the marker, do you guys shorten the loading time before you begin your training sessions or just try and stay consistant as possible and do let's say 5 minutes of loading before each training session?

I'm just asking as there as there are quite a few members here who have been doing marker training with there dogs consistantly longer than I have with mine. I still load the marker before each session with the dogs but it is used to help get the girls focused on me before we get into the real training.

-Lamarr

Well, what we're talking about in the thread is loading the marker with a dog new to marker training. Once the dog knows that the mark= "treat coming," the it's "loaded."

Then the dog wants to generate that marker.

I don't really ever load the marker again. But I am first POSITIVE that the dog gets the connection between the marker and the "reward coming!"

However, I might indeed get the dog(s) "ready" by saying "ready?"

Then again, I also pretty frequently sneak in a marker where the dog has no idea of it coming. I was telling someone else about taking a couple of small rewards hidden in a pocket on a regular potty walk and asking for a behavior on the sidewalk. The first time I did this ("sit" in the middle of a regular block) my most senior dog looked at me like "Huh?" but did sit ... maybe a tad slowly. I marked and rewarded, and their eyes all lit up with this new information that markers and their rewards can rain right down out of nowhere. LOL

So while I do say "Ready?!" to kind of mentally "load" the dog for a session on a new behavior, I also like to make clear that markers and rewards are also always around in the strangest of places.