Chat
03-19-2015, 07:25 AM
Finn and Sputnik are both very quick studies. But cookies help the process along. 
It is funny how different my boys are though. Pac-Man and Snickers just want cookies. They'll try every way they can think of to NOT do the trick or obstacle and still get the cookie. They're not dumb--they just lack the drive to learn for learning's sake.
Finn and Sputnik, on the other hand, try to figure out what you want and then do it (for the cookie, of course), but it's like those two just love to learn. Sputnik is wired 220 and has a hard time concentrating. He gets frustrated easily if he can't figure out what I want right away, so I have to jump around from one trick to another and do a lot of reaffirming with tricks he knows well if he gets "stuck". Finn is a lot more patient and keeps his eyes on you the whole time. You can almost see the wheels turning in his noggin. Finn learns things very methodically and you can actually see him making progress. He spends most training sessions with his eyes glued to me and his tail wagging.
Sputnik, on the other hand, spends most of his time backing away from me and stomping his front feet in frustration until he understands what I want. Then suddenly he's glued to my side. Sputnik learns in sudden explosions. Most stuff he gets immediately, but for harder commands I might work with him 3-4 times or more and make no progress. Then suddenly one day he executes the trick perfectly on the first try even though I left off the day before thinking he didn't understand at all. It's like he has to sleep on it. It took months for me to teach him to lay down on command even though it took Finn less than a week. Sputnik would panic any time I tried to lay him down (he dislikes being touched) and we'd have to stop for the day. Then suddenly about a month ago, after not working on that command for most of the winter, I asked him to lie down and he just plopped on the ground like he'd been practicing all his life. He's a funny little dude, and it's lucky for me that his greed usually overcomes his shyness or I'm not sure I'd be able to work with him. He's much too flighty.
It is funny how different my boys are though. Pac-Man and Snickers just want cookies. They'll try every way they can think of to NOT do the trick or obstacle and still get the cookie. They're not dumb--they just lack the drive to learn for learning's sake.
Finn and Sputnik, on the other hand, try to figure out what you want and then do it (for the cookie, of course), but it's like those two just love to learn. Sputnik is wired 220 and has a hard time concentrating. He gets frustrated easily if he can't figure out what I want right away, so I have to jump around from one trick to another and do a lot of reaffirming with tricks he knows well if he gets "stuck". Finn is a lot more patient and keeps his eyes on you the whole time. You can almost see the wheels turning in his noggin. Finn learns things very methodically and you can actually see him making progress. He spends most training sessions with his eyes glued to me and his tail wagging.
Sputnik, on the other hand, spends most of his time backing away from me and stomping his front feet in frustration until he understands what I want. Then suddenly he's glued to my side. Sputnik learns in sudden explosions. Most stuff he gets immediately, but for harder commands I might work with him 3-4 times or more and make no progress. Then suddenly one day he executes the trick perfectly on the first try even though I left off the day before thinking he didn't understand at all. It's like he has to sleep on it. It took months for me to teach him to lay down on command even though it took Finn less than a week. Sputnik would panic any time I tried to lay him down (he dislikes being touched) and we'd have to stop for the day. Then suddenly about a month ago, after not working on that command for most of the winter, I asked him to lie down and he just plopped on the ground like he'd been practicing all his life. He's a funny little dude, and it's lucky for me that his greed usually overcomes his shyness or I'm not sure I'd be able to work with him. He's much too flighty.