Yesterday’s support-task training session with Glimmer went very well. She does need more practice with targeting, as well as grounding and holding the ground position, but overall, she did a great job responding to the cues she was given.
When we started the session, I repeated each task command several times while she tried different responses to get the food reward. By the end of the session, I was giving her the task command only once, and she was looking to me and thinking before she responded. This was a major step forward for her, because she is highly motivated by food and she tends to focus on that rather than looking to me for instruction.
Today, we are going to continue working on targeting, grounding, and holding (maintaining the grounding position). I am also going to be introducing blood-scenting, as I am hypoglycemic and I don’t always catch drops in my blood sugar level until I’m already starting to crash. Teaching Glimmer to detect changes in my blood – and then target-alert me – will help prevent those crashes.
Have a great day, everyone. Remember to stay calm and lead on…