# Hey Coco! Why Aren't You Listening?



## N2Mischief (Dec 3, 2012)

I am not a trainer, and I probably have the worst behaved poodle on the planet! But just wanted to let you know that I LOVE the color of your Coco! Such a deep, rich, brown! Gorgeous!


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## mom2Zoe (Jun 17, 2014)

N2Mischief said:


> I am not a trainer, and I probably have the worst behaved poodle on the planet! But just wanted to let you know that I LOVE the color of your Coco! Such a deep, rich, brown! Gorgeous!



:dito: I was just going to make the same post.


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## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

Don't you know that Coco has other things on her mind, she's a beauty but I am bias when it comes to brown poodles


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## Coco-nut (Dec 27, 2014)

I'm sure you all are right...there are much more interesting things at the park than me! Coco appreciates all the compliments and says thank you.


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## Suddenly (Aug 8, 2013)

Coco is great looking. Love her braclets.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Coco-nut said:


> Coco and I are attending basic obedience classes (4 of 7 complete). We've worked a lot on our own well before taking the class but find the interaction, distractions and excellent guidance to be especially helpful in fine tuning our communication skills. We are working MUCH better together. Today, we found ourselves stuck at home alone and decided to take a walk to the park to work on our "stay". Coco is pretty reliable but we need to work on our "recall "before we try anything off leash. The problem is I can't seem to get her attention from any amount of distance. I decided to work on reinforcing basic "name recognition" and "focus" at shorter distances. My plan is to slowly increase the distance to see if this resolved the problem. Are there any other recommendations on how to get her attention from a distance?
> 
> I read the excellent post from Poodlebeguiled and plan to work on that too but still feel like I should be able to get Coco's attention....
> 
> ...


Thanks Tamara. I'm not sure which post you're referring to. But anyhow, it looks like you're doing things like a pro. Your pictures are terrific. It is very gratifying, isn't it when they get that stay better and better. All you have to do is while putting a little more pressure on her...asking for a little more, IF she breaks it, remember, you just went a little too far too soon. Go back and work a little more where she was successful. Vary things a bit...new locations, contexts, your relative body position to hers, what you're doing. When it's time to add in distractions, add something very mild at first. 





> The problem is I can't seem to get her attention from any amount of distance.


Find a small, boring room, like a bathroom where there's nothing very interesting in there. Put away your jewelry, perfumes, soap and throw rugs. If she's sitting right smack dab in front of you (there's still _some_ distance there. lol) and she hasn't eaten a thing since breakfast and it's 4:30 or 5 in the afternoon, (no, we don't want to starve her so her ribs are sticking out like one charming member here inferred from my advice) do you think some pieces of Chateaubriand cooked medium rare to rare with a mushroom reduction sauce, topped with Morels, sautéed in white wine and butter would get her attention? You can cook hamburgers for the rest of the family. 

Okay, so do you want to have her respond to a specific word or to her name? You can do either. Say her name and feed her a pea sized piece of meat. Repeat over and over. That's one exercise. Then you'll take it to a less boring room, then outside with no distractions and up close to her. Then you'll go back one foot if that's what it takes, then two and add one distraction like drop a toy, whatever she can succeed with. If she doesn't, go back a step. You're just turning her name into a conditioned reinforcer. She'll hear her name and look to you for reward. But you can build on duration of that looking at you after she gets good at the first levels. Duration as well as distance and distractions. But don't ask for 2 or more of those things at the same time. Break it down into baby steps...first say, duration of the gaze she has on you. When that's getting good, distance. With duration, start preventing anticipation. 1 second, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 7 seconds, 4 seconds, 2 seconds. Then distance: One foot, then two and so on. Mix it up when she's getting onto that. 2', 3', 6', 1', 4'. Keep it interesting and keep her from anticipating. Then add a mild distraction and work up...and so on.

Here's another you can do too. If you want her to look at you when you give a cue (a word, "look" "watch" or her name) first don't use it at all. Hold two pieces of meat (one in each hand) and hold your hands out to the side...let her sniff, maul, paw at, whatever, just sit there and wait. Wait until she looks at you. If it seems like she's never going to, make a little kissy noise. The SECOND she looks at you, use your conditioned reinforcer (a clicker or a word like, "yesssss!!!") Or her name if that's what you want her to respond to and look at you when you say it...when you want her attention on you and quickly furnish the treat. Repeat. Don't use your cue word yet. Wait until she gets the idea that you want her to look at you, not your hands, not somewhere else in the room, not at that toy over there, but your face...eye contact. Be quick. When she makes even a second of eye contact, mark it with your "Yessss!" And give her the treat. As she gets good, work up some duration of that gaze. When she looks at you, mark it, wait 2 seconds, treat. Then again, wait for eye contact, mark it, but wait 3 seconds then treat. You can do away with the marking of it when she becomes very reliable. And you can then go onto a fixed ratio of reinforcement for a few sessions, then a variable ratio. So, say, every 3rd success she gets a treat for a few practices. Then a variable ratio, which _isn't_ a completely random delivery of the reinforcer. Its more of an average of correct responses, sort of like slot machines work. Those casinos understand behavior. That's why gambling doesn't usually pay off in the long run. It does for them though. LOL. 

As she becomes regular with this...gets onto the game and is spending very little time mauling your hands for the treat, but instead looking right up to your face every time, start inserting at the same time, your cue word, "Watch" or "Look" or her name, whatever you choose at the very moment she looks. Don't try to get her to look yet with that cue. Wait till she makes the association between the cue and behavior. When you think she has, try to elicit it with your cue. If it doesn't work, she needs more practice to _pair_ those two things together better. (she's not blowing you off or being stubborn, as so many people think when they decide the dog "needs" a "correction." :alberteinstein: Eh-hem) 

When she is getting it really well, take it beyond the same old contexts and locations. Change how you are too. Don't always stand in the same position or in the same relative position or distance to her. Try not to get stuck there in one place too long or she'll have trouble generalizing the behavior. For instance, you're in the park and you stand under a big tree limb that swoops down low where you can lean against it, your favorite place to practice and the only place you really have been practicing lately. She's out about 30-40 feet by now and you face her and call her name. She's looked at you or come (if that's what you are training her to do when you call her name) a hundred times. She's got it. Now, you go stand somewhere else in the park...by the creek, not by that same tree. And you stand sideways to her or with your back turned to her... and call her name. She doesn't move. She's staring off heavenward, thinking about astronomy. This is not the same as it was to her. The tree limb is missing, your face is not there, and there's a creek that wasn't there before. The cue is all different to her. (Okay, this is an exaggeration. Most dogs can work with this. But it's _kind_ of how they operate.) And kind of why they get punished a lot because their owners think they're being stubborn. They did it before. And now they aren't doing it! The nerve! They simply need lots of practice learning _how_ to learn and learning how to _generalize_ cues and behaviors. 

Basically in a nut shell... Why didn't I put it in a nut shell in the first place? :ahhhhh: You want to reduce any new behavior into the smallest parts possible. Break it down into baby steps so they're sure to succeed. (the more reinforcement they get, the quicker they'll learn) Be sure the environment, you, other things do not become part of the cue. Dogs need to be able to sift out what you mean out of all kinds of other things going on, all kinds of other behaviors they're doing (believe it or not) at the same time and it must have a worthwhile (to them) pay-off. So, mix these external things up as the dog starts to get some momentum with a new behavior. Don't get stuck in a rut for too long. Keep things moving as best you can without asking for too much too soon. Tricky call sometimes. But like old covered wagon wheels, dogs have a little trouble getting out of ruts. Reinforce, reinforce, reinforce with something that is good enough to make the dog want to do it again. Be playful and exciting...have fun with your dog. NEVER serious. Dogs don't do serious. :aetsch: That's why they're such goof balls. So, meet them half way. Reinforce what you like. Prevent, the best you can what you don't like. A reinforcer has got to change behavior and it must be something the dog LOVES....goes ape over or it doesn't make the grade as a reinforcer. And any behavior you want repeated must be reinforced. Okay, that was a very large nut shell. 

Anyhow, I hope somewhere in that word salad, I made some kind of sense like a radish or cuke. I think it looks like you're doing really, really stupendously with her so far...from your description and from your really cool pictures!


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Correction: I made a mistake when writing something. When you're building duration of say the eye contact, (or anything) don't mark it, then wait for more seconds. When you're putting pressure on her to give you a few more seconds of duration,_ wait _for those 3 or 4 seconds, _then_ mark, then treat. You want to be rewarding the _duration_ of her gaze...those extra seconds, and not simply the act of looking at you anymore. But be sure she can do the previous level first. Try to make it so she doesn't look away first before you get a chance to mark. It's a balancing act for sure.


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