bow

[Maxy24]

Ok so I've been trying to teach Phoebe bow and she is having a REALLY hard time with it. I was going to wait until she did that stretch where it looks like you are bowing but decided to see if I could get her to do it by luring her. So I got her standing, put the back of my hand flat against her tummy (to keep her from laying) and held the treat in front of her face. I pulled it forward towards the ground so she stained to reach it, then pushed it towards her and she ended up in a bow. I did this over and over eventually I didn't have to pull it away I just had to push the treat towards her and she would be in the bow. I wanted to remove my hand ASAP so she knew to keep on her back feet so I tried it without my hand and she layed down. Ok so I put my hand back. Occasionally when I had her bow she would go limp on her back legs like she was laying and just my hand was holding her up. I eventually got to where My hand was under her but not touching her, like if she started to go down she would hit my hand but other than that she would not feel it. Now I don't use my hand at all. She has no idea what bow means, which is fine I just started using the word. What does worry me is that I don't think she knows the hand signal either, I think she is just following the treat still. I'm trying to turn the lure into a hand signal (I start my hand over to the side and do a scooping motion from the side to in front of me, As the lure it was the scooping motion right at her face to the point it was under her legs to get her to bow, I'm trying to back off so it does not come all the way under her face) but unless I go all the way like the lure she stops and snaps at my fingers for the treat (she doesn't get it, no worries).

So my first problem is trying to develop the hand signal from the lure, I really don't think I changed it from the lure much at all, I just did it a little further from her face.

OK she still lays down like 30 or 40% of the time. It's somewhat frustrating, I don't think she knows what the heck she is supposed to be doing and is guessing between them. Her "down" is always a down though, she never messes that up. The hand signals are very different.

It may be that she has spoiled me with all the other tricks. She was reliable with the hand signals after about three sessions (one session a day) and we have been working on bow over two weeks. I don't want to give up on it like I did on dance (I gave up on it because I felt it might be uncomfortable for her to physically jump around on her back legs, she seamed to dread it) just because it is taking longer but I do want to make sure I am teaching this right and not overly confusing her.

[Zoom]

I'm still refining this with Sawyer as well and what really helped us was switching to using the word "Bravo" because he kept trying to "down" instead of "bow".

I also spent a lot of time jackpotting when I didn't have my hand touching his belly, that seemed to help as well. This trick has also taken a lot longer than anything else we've worked. :)

You're not alone!

[Maxy24]

Good to know I'm not alone! We worked on it today and I am starting to feel the word might be bugging her out. I said bow and she immediately dropped into the down, so maybe she thought I said it. I'll change the word, thanks she didn't do too bad today only dropped into down about 4 times and she is picking up the hand signal a bit. It bothers her that her head is moving away from the treat so she sometimes stops going down and grabs my fingers, this is why she does not respond to the hand signal well yet. She'll eventually figure out she is more likely to get the treat if her head moves away from it though and respond to the signal I hope.

[Dekka]

I never add a cue word untill the behaviour is solid.