Timing the CLICK

I just realized a major problem I was having teaching Phoebe to grab the dumbbell. My timing was slow. Phoebe is a super-quick dog, she grabs and lets go nearly instantly. So when I was click and treating, she thought I was C/T for grab AND let go. No wonder I couldn't get her to pick up (or hang onto) the dumbbell! No wonder she thought I was an idiot when I didn't click after she kept grabbing and letting go.

I had to take it back a step, and start clicking for the GRAB, which requires a bit of anticipation on my part. If I wait until she's grabbed, it is too late because by then she's already let go. Amazingly, over a very short session she figured out the click is for the GRAB and she will hold on, even bringing the dumbbell up off the floor sometimes. A miracle breakthrough!

I have also been working on a "touch my hand" trick, and I've had the same problem with it. She touches and then zooms back for a treat. The only way I could get her to stay near my hand is if I held the hand near the treats. I want to teach her to touch my hand until I click the clicker, but I realized that wasn't going to happen unless I started consistently clicking during the millisecond that she was touching my hand. Today I was moving briskly around the house, and she was following my hand with her nose. Success! She couldn't reach the hand easily, so she had to follow it-- and it was much easier to C/T that way. And I have started to build duration. I'm not sure if it will hold up when I stop moving my hand, though!