Makana wrote:
I remember reading a dog training book that said if your dog didn't respond to a verbal cue when you were laying on the ground, he hadn't learned the cue yet, he had only learned the cue in the context of your body language. So I wonder if teaching cues in different situations (changing where I am physically) would help cement the cues in Caspian's mind, and perhaps make them clearer to him in the long run. Don't know, I guess time will tell.
Hi Makana!
Good questions! We used to try things like what you describe above, and although it may seem extreme, it is a good exercise for getting verbal stimulus control. Often what most animals learn is what is called a 'stimulus package' which can be a number of contextual cues all balled together with body cues being at the top of the list!! If you want good verba stimulus control, the cues that you don't want need to be 'teased' out!
In dog agility training, we had the mantra 'vary the variables', which meant keep varying everything but the cue. IOW, make it so the only information that is reliable and predictable IS the cue. Body position was one of the most important for independent obstacle performance, but of course location, sounds, sights, and other distractions need to be figured into the training as well.
So YES! I strongly feel that changing body position, location, etc. will help Caspian learn the verbal cues better. And that will certainly help in the initial stages of riding.
I have tried to work with varying my body position with whoa and back with some success. I can be in front, along side, or behind her, not perfect but pretty good. I have just started riding Lucy so verbal cues like walk on, trot, etc. are works in progress! Haven't tried sitting on a fence tho!
I have tried to work with the verbal for trot by saying the cue and trying not to move until she starts to trot, rather than me moving, then saying the verbal cue?? Again, I'm not religious about these ideas but I do think about them a lot when I'm training! And it sounds as if these are things you have been thinkng about as well!
One last thing to keep in mind (you mght already know this tho) is that when you are using a body cue to 'get the behavior' and then later want to fade it and add a verbal it is important to present the NEW cue first. So for example teaching back up, you would want to say the verbal cue 'back', then present the hand/body signal, so eventually the body cue will become irrelevent. This is refered to as forward conditioning.
Hope this helps and does not make you more confused???
Brenda