Now that Bailey is consistently alerting to lows & highs at home I'm starting to concentrate on him alerting in different situations and locations.
This has included more night time alerting. This training is slow going because trying to catch Bailey when he's asleep is surprisingly difficult! He spends much of his time awake, with an odd nap in the day when the kids are at school and sleeping only lightly at night.
When I do manage to catch him sound asleep, I grab a scent sample from the freezer as quietly as possible and sneak up on him. The scent sample is a cotton swab with Jason's saliva on it, collected when he has low BLG's. It is stored in a small container that has holes in the lid, and a removable cap under this that is removed before training so that the scent can escape. This makes it perfect for hiding on your person without leaving residue on your clothing, avoiding any mistaken identity (see my previous blog "What's Up?").
I wave the container slowly over his head a few times and wait for a response. The first time I did this last week it took about a minute or two for him to respond. As soon as he wakes I give a food reward and then leave him to go back to sleep. I notice he has a shorter reaction time for subsequent alerts now which is promising.
We're also performing more alert training in the sleep zone and he is starting to feel comfortable offering more alerts in this situation, giving numerous morning alerts within the week. Mornings are a time when Bailey will always go to Jason as soon a he wakes and check if he's low.
We have also had some great opportunities for him to practise alerting in public places. We were out on the weekend on a walk when Jason said he felt low. There were a lot of distractions at the time (i.e. food, excitement, people) and when I tested Jason he was. I verbally cued Bailey to check Jason and he alerted to a low.
I rewarded him generously and we practised doing a few more low alerts to reinforce alerting in a public place with loads of distractions.
We have taken our training outside and he is now confident offering alerts when we're in our backyard. It always surprises me how quickly Bailey will adapt to alerting in different situations and locations, usually after performing it only the once.
Generalising alerts is an on-going process for us because there are so many different places that Bailey must be comfortable alerting in. Everyday situations really do provide us with endless training opportunities!
Bailey went off for a haircut last week too and was gone for most of the day. During his time away he gets to play with other doodles and have some fun. When he returned I expected him to be in another zone because of the change of pace but he went straight up to check on Jason and sniffed his mouth and then alerted within an hour of being home to a low. He slipped back into work mode so effortlessly, like he'd never even left. I still get such a buzz whenever he alerts...I find what he does is simply amazing. He really is a 'super dog'....
This has included more night time alerting. This training is slow going because trying to catch Bailey when he's asleep is surprisingly difficult! He spends much of his time awake, with an odd nap in the day when the kids are at school and sleeping only lightly at night.
When I do manage to catch him sound asleep, I grab a scent sample from the freezer as quietly as possible and sneak up on him. The scent sample is a cotton swab with Jason's saliva on it, collected when he has low BLG's. It is stored in a small container that has holes in the lid, and a removable cap under this that is removed before training so that the scent can escape. This makes it perfect for hiding on your person without leaving residue on your clothing, avoiding any mistaken identity (see my previous blog "What's Up?").
I wave the container slowly over his head a few times and wait for a response. The first time I did this last week it took about a minute or two for him to respond. As soon as he wakes I give a food reward and then leave him to go back to sleep. I notice he has a shorter reaction time for subsequent alerts now which is promising.
We're also performing more alert training in the sleep zone and he is starting to feel comfortable offering more alerts in this situation, giving numerous morning alerts within the week. Mornings are a time when Bailey will always go to Jason as soon a he wakes and check if he's low.
We have also had some great opportunities for him to practise alerting in public places. We were out on the weekend on a walk when Jason said he felt low. There were a lot of distractions at the time (i.e. food, excitement, people) and when I tested Jason he was. I verbally cued Bailey to check Jason and he alerted to a low.
I rewarded him generously and we practised doing a few more low alerts to reinforce alerting in a public place with loads of distractions.
We have taken our training outside and he is now confident offering alerts when we're in our backyard. It always surprises me how quickly Bailey will adapt to alerting in different situations and locations, usually after performing it only the once.
Generalising alerts is an on-going process for us because there are so many different places that Bailey must be comfortable alerting in. Everyday situations really do provide us with endless training opportunities!
Bailey went off for a haircut last week too and was gone for most of the day. During his time away he gets to play with other doodles and have some fun. When he returned I expected him to be in another zone because of the change of pace but he went straight up to check on Jason and sniffed his mouth and then alerted within an hour of being home to a low. He slipped back into work mode so effortlessly, like he'd never even left. I still get such a buzz whenever he alerts...I find what he does is simply amazing. He really is a 'super dog'....