cmoore
Strolling the yard
I've been working with Icarus on spin for a few sessions now. I started out by luring him in a circle with a target stick. He initially didn't like my hand going over his head (while moving the target stick around), but he quickly realized the desired behavior and started following the target stick around. I faded the target stick lure a bit, moving it more quickly and letting him finish the turn on his own, but I was a bit stuck as to how to get him to offer the behavior without the lure.
Today we had a big breakthrough! I did a bunch of lured spin practice, then decided we'd done enough of that, and that it was time to try to get Icarus to give me the behavior on his own. I planned to do this by shaping, starting with small head turns and working up to the full spin. I was hoping he'd put together our practice with lured spins with the new shaping regimen and eventually (probably after several training sessions) offer spins on his own.
To my complete surprise, after a few clicks for head-turns, he offered a complete spin on his own! Even more surprising, it was in the opposite direction of the spins we'd been practicing (which were left, or counter-clockwise, turns). Color me flabbergasted! I jackpotted that, of course. After that, he offered at least 30 spins in both directions on his own, although he did offer more left turns than right. I clicked and treated them all. What a session!
Lured spins: 16
No spin: 1
Shaped spins (including initial shaping clicks): 51
Session length: approx 8 minutes
Today we had a big breakthrough! I did a bunch of lured spin practice, then decided we'd done enough of that, and that it was time to try to get Icarus to give me the behavior on his own. I planned to do this by shaping, starting with small head turns and working up to the full spin. I was hoping he'd put together our practice with lured spins with the new shaping regimen and eventually (probably after several training sessions) offer spins on his own.
To my complete surprise, after a few clicks for head-turns, he offered a complete spin on his own! Even more surprising, it was in the opposite direction of the spins we'd been practicing (which were left, or counter-clockwise, turns). Color me flabbergasted! I jackpotted that, of course. After that, he offered at least 30 spins in both directions on his own, although he did offer more left turns than right. I clicked and treated them all. What a session!
Lured spins: 16
No spin: 1
Shaped spins (including initial shaping clicks): 51
Session length: approx 8 minutes