Some video links
February 4, 2012 at 8:02 pm 10 comments
I have been SO busy. I had started drafting up a post about The Culture Clash, with some illustrations in mind, but have been swamped with work and deadlines.
Sharing here some YouTube videos I found recently:
From Zak George – a very interesting point about rewarding with PLAY vs rewarding with FOOD, when teaching something very physical. I remember the times I have tried to teach Boogie cues (involving a toy) and he became more interested in running off with the toy or playing tug with it than in receiving food treats.
I have also noticed that when Boogie is barking at somebody outside (that was before I applied the Window Film – see previous blog post), I could more easily redirect his attention with the tennis ball than with food because he was so hyped up.
Article by Casey Lomonaco: When Food Is the Wrong Answer
I like the idea of using play as reinforcement but… still haven’t successfully trained “Drop it” or “Let go” …
And THIS! 🙂
Entry filed under: Articles, links, Reads.
Boogie's blog 
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Georgia Little Pea | February 4, 2012 at 8:50 pm
OMG Boogie! I just spent the last 10 minutes looking at the last vid and its related links. BOL. They’re hysterical and quite the smartest stuff I’ve seen in a while! Did your mama make them?
Back tomtopic – I’m afraid Georgia’s currency is definitely food. She will work for nothing else. But we’re careful what type of treat and how much we reward her with, otherwise she’d be a butterball.
2.
lili | February 4, 2012 at 10:08 pm
Ha, no, that second video I found on YouTube. Not by me! 🙂
Boogie is food-motivated but not all of the time. Actually when I first adopted him 4 years ago, for the first month he had no interest in eating. I had to carry him to his food bowl for mealtimes and he would take treats and spit them out. I taught him the basic “SIT” with a tennis ball lure. He’s also a really picky eater…
3.
Georgia Little Pea | February 4, 2012 at 9:00 pm
Sorry, I just clicked on some old links and read the story of Boogie’s staph/skin issues from 2009. How is it these days? Georgia has a chronic skin problem as well, the last breakout just this week. Have you managed to find a long term solution?
4.
lili | February 4, 2012 at 10:11 pm
After 3-4 weeks of antibiotics, the staph/skin stuff cleared up completely and his coat is as good as new. In spite of this, though, our vet said to keep him on a maintenance dose… so he now gets a pill every other day…. I don’t know if this is a good long-term solution though. What is Georgia’s skin problem?
5.
Georgia Little Pea | February 5, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Long term meds can’t be good.
It’s also a staph infection I believe. Pyoderma. You can read about it in my latest post, with pictures.
Her chronic issues are atopic and contact dermatitis. Unfortunately, we have no idea what the triggers are. We’ve changed her diet, hose her down after every park walk, use medicated shampoos, and a cream and antihistamines when she scratches too much. It’s calmed down a lot since the diet change and hosedowns. This last flare up was a bit sudden.
I’m thinking I might try a holistic vet soon (i know a good one here who diagnosed Rufus with hypothyrodism in one visit – something regular vets hadnt thought of despite seeing him for years!). It’ll be good if there are natural herbal alternatives. I hate giving her too many antibiotics.
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lili | February 6, 2012 at 7:13 pm
That photo of Pyoderma looks nasty 😦 In terms of triggers for the atopic dermatitis, did you have Georgia allergy-tested? (Or do you plan to?) This is something that I am debating over with myself, wondering if it’s worth spending the $$$$. What if the triggers were something like dust or grass? Some things are unavoidable. I also hate overdependence on antibiotics or any meds…
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shanendoah@life by pets | February 6, 2012 at 7:08 pm
For our Aussie, rewarding with play was definitely better than rewarding with treat. He liked treats, but he liked his tennis ball more.
We slowly (and not exactly intentionally) taught him “We’re done”. He would always bring the ball back for another throw, even if he needed a rest. (We used to have to put the ball in his water dish to get him to take a drink.) We started handing the ball back to him and saying “we’re done”. It took a few repititions, but eventially he’d go lay down for a little while. 5 minutes later, he might be back for more play, but he eventually learned “We’re done” as a solid cue.
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lili | February 6, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Boogie is exactly the same with his tennis ball. He is obsessed with it and could play Fetch for over an hour and not seem to get tired. It’s funny … I also unconsciously and unintentionally taught him “ALL DONE. NO MORE” so when I say this, the game ends and he goes to his bed.
9.
barrie | February 7, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Re: play vs. food: one of the first lessons I teach puppies is to transition between those two drives and teaching a retrieve a la Shirley Chong’s clicker retrieve helps that tremendously 🙂 Susan Garrett wants people to give dogs what she refers to as a balance break such as playing tug every 5-15 repetitions in any training session.
The malinut is so ball obsessed I refer to tennis balls as binkies now 😉 To counter that I am working on a clicker retrieve on a piece of PVC with him.
10.
wolfxhybird | July 6, 2013 at 9:40 pm
awww he is handsome boston terrier and he has a beautiful eyes.