More experimenting with picking up the toy. He is not eager to put it in his mouth, & is trying other behaviors like chin rests & pawing. I’m trying to capture any open mouth on the ball & mark while he is still holding it. I’m keeping hold of the toy with my hand because then I can feel if he actually has a grip on it.
And I wanted to bring the head in bucket behavior back in to end with a stronger part of the chain. After refreshing that, we did just a couple “grab toy over buckets”.
Here is a session with Simon on picking up a toy. Simon is really not much of a toy guy. He rarely chooses to pick them up, and he loses interest quickly. Here I experiment with setting the toy on the floor vs. trying to engage him with some light chase, which resulted in a more enthusiastic grab.
I know this might be challenging for him, so I’m purposely working near his crate. At any point he can opt out by going into his crate, and he will get a treat for that. The goal is to take the pressure off of working with the toy if he doesn’t want to or is confused what I’m asking.
Next toy session I will either continue with trying to engage him with some chase with this toy (which is one he has played with before), or I may try a brand new item & shape him picking it up off the floor.
Trying to pick back up with teaching Simon to put a toy in a bin. We started this awhile ago & never quite got it. First step is stick your nose in the bin. Safe to say he remembered this as he was too fast for me in his eagerness, which resulted in a little paw in the bin action. Will vary the placement of the bin a bit next session to make sure he can move a distance to it. Would love to see videos if anyone wants to play along!
Long post about Simon & Kuma progress:
Simon & Kuma have come a long way - they regularly play in the mornings & generally coexist in many situations. But Simon is still not okay with Kuma being in his space with treats around or when lounging with people on the couch.
With the help of an excellent trainer we’ve been working on voluntary sharing procedures (from Leslie McDevitt’s Control Unleashed books). Simon cues me to give Kuma treats by putting his chin on the pillow. If he declines to lower his head, or opts to lift his head before I get back to him, then we end the session & no more treats for Kuma (don’t worry, she gets plenty, including whatever the baby throws to her from the high chair).
I wasn’t sure how this would go with Simon being blind & deaf. Would he be able to tell what’s going on? Yes. He sure can. We initially worked with Simon & Banjo, and it went swimmingly. Then swapped in Kuma for Banjo & Simon chose to opt out much earlier & more often. With more practice we can now do minute long sessions with Kuma, and fairly close (with tethers for safety). This session was the other day in a slightly new set up. Simon was feeling quite generous! And a side benefit is Kuma’s mat behavior has gotten a lot of practice.
This may not look like much, but Simon’s level of chill here is huge progress!
Banjo is resigned to a life of daily, thorough ear cleanings from Simon.
Kuma, thoroughly unconcerned that I have a meeting in 5 minutes
A little 2x speed Simon nose work. He’s finding birch scented q-tips in a metal tin, and doing it quite well!
Relationship Progress
Simon: How about I put your whole head in my mouth?
Kuma: I guess that’s okay. Here’s my butt.
