I do unfortunate things sometimes
Apr. 17th, 2011 06:31 pmSo I made the decidedly un-thought-through choice of reading a bit of a violently transphobic blog (nothing like reading that a person wishes all trans people were dead! Certainly brightened up my afternoon!) which I am not linking because TBH spreading hate and giving it attention is just not my MO. So instead, as I was thinking about this earlier and hopefully it will cheer me up, I am going to take inventory of the commands Tripper knows! This should be interesting since he's learned two different sets of commands from Dad and I, and has learned a lot of very nuanced commands because we're a bit haphazard about teaching him.
( I think this will probably be long )
I'm honestly, often surprised by his ability to pick up commands very quickly. Originally I only meant to teach him 'mouse' for the sake of the video, which was for a presentation I was giving on clicker-training. I spent about three hours with him on it, all in one session, and by the end we were both exhausted and cranky (never again!). I didn't even teach him the turning behavior during that session - I tried, but he wasn't getting it, so I just ended with jumping onto the ottoman and sitting facing me. A month or so later, I decided to see if he recalled the trick at all, and cued him (without the clicker even in my hand, which generally makes him more attentive to my commands because he knows he'll get treats). He did the complete trick, including the turn. I was surprised and did it with him a few more times; it wasn't a fluke. He retains it even now, even though I haven't reinforced it in any clicker sessions since then.
( I think this will probably be long )
I'm honestly, often surprised by his ability to pick up commands very quickly. Originally I only meant to teach him 'mouse' for the sake of the video, which was for a presentation I was giving on clicker-training. I spent about three hours with him on it, all in one session, and by the end we were both exhausted and cranky (never again!). I didn't even teach him the turning behavior during that session - I tried, but he wasn't getting it, so I just ended with jumping onto the ottoman and sitting facing me. A month or so later, I decided to see if he recalled the trick at all, and cued him (without the clicker even in my hand, which generally makes him more attentive to my commands because he knows he'll get treats). He did the complete trick, including the turn. I was surprised and did it with him a few more times; it wasn't a fluke. He retains it even now, even though I haven't reinforced it in any clicker sessions since then.