That's nice! It's clear that she's figuring out the game.
In that session, you were clicking her when she lifted the pen up to her head-height. She then dropped the pen to get her treat, not in response to any cue. The pen was not landing in your hand because you were not able to get your hand under it quick enough before she dropped it. I'm not saying this to be critical at all, I'm just stating what happened. If you go back to Shirley Chong's Retrieve, this would be step 17.
You could just continue along with Shirley Chong's steps from here on out, but I think step 18 is going to be difficult because of all the movement that your dog is doing. She has to go to the floor to find the pen, then she picks it all the way up.... she probably won't even notice your hand moving with all the movement she's doing. It certainly does work, it just takes a lot longer, IME. (I got stuck on this step for like three weeks with one of my first dogs, it was HIGHLY frustrating... for the both of us.)
That's why I like to teach the dog to target my hand before I move the object to the floor. So in your case, you will hand your dog the pen, click when she takes it, and then your hand is still right there when she drops it for her treat. Like Corgi said, you can even start by not letting go of it at all, just hold it and let her grab it, then c/t without letting go of it. When she gets good at taking it, and you're good at catching it, then GRADUALLY move your hand so that she has to target your hand. Move just a little bit each time, but eventually she'll have to really think about where your hand is and how she needs to get over it.
I know a trainer who actually teaches her dog to put his chin in her hand, to make the retrieve easier. She holds her hand out the way she will hold it to catch the retrieve item, so that he learns that that's the cue, and then he will eventually do the same behavior when he has a retrieve object in his mouth as well. I haven't needed to do this, but it is a nice tool. It might be especially helpful with your dog, to teach her to be aware of where her head is.
When I can hand the dog the item, and he will physically move to target my hand, then I start working with the item on the floor.
Like Corgi said, the hold is important for our work but may not be important for what you need to do. But, IME, if you don't start working on it in these early stages, it will be very difficult for the dog to figure it out later on. I taught my chihuahua to retrieve - get the item, bring it to me even from long distances away, and deliver it to my hand (she jumps up to reach my hand
) - but never knew to teach her to hold it. While the retrieve was relatively easy for her to learn, teaching her hold now is proving to be extremely difficult. BUT, just like everything you train, it's up to you.
In that session, you were clicking her when she lifted the pen up to her head-height. She then dropped the pen to get her treat, not in response to any cue. The pen was not landing in your hand because you were not able to get your hand under it quick enough before she dropped it. I'm not saying this to be critical at all, I'm just stating what happened. If you go back to Shirley Chong's Retrieve, this would be step 17.
You could just continue along with Shirley Chong's steps from here on out, but I think step 18 is going to be difficult because of all the movement that your dog is doing. She has to go to the floor to find the pen, then she picks it all the way up.... she probably won't even notice your hand moving with all the movement she's doing. It certainly does work, it just takes a lot longer, IME. (I got stuck on this step for like three weeks with one of my first dogs, it was HIGHLY frustrating... for the both of us.)
That's why I like to teach the dog to target my hand before I move the object to the floor. So in your case, you will hand your dog the pen, click when she takes it, and then your hand is still right there when she drops it for her treat. Like Corgi said, you can even start by not letting go of it at all, just hold it and let her grab it, then c/t without letting go of it. When she gets good at taking it, and you're good at catching it, then GRADUALLY move your hand so that she has to target your hand. Move just a little bit each time, but eventually she'll have to really think about where your hand is and how she needs to get over it.
I know a trainer who actually teaches her dog to put his chin in her hand, to make the retrieve easier. She holds her hand out the way she will hold it to catch the retrieve item, so that he learns that that's the cue, and then he will eventually do the same behavior when he has a retrieve object in his mouth as well. I haven't needed to do this, but it is a nice tool. It might be especially helpful with your dog, to teach her to be aware of where her head is.
When I can hand the dog the item, and he will physically move to target my hand, then I start working with the item on the floor.
Like Corgi said, the hold is important for our work but may not be important for what you need to do. But, IME, if you don't start working on it in these early stages, it will be very difficult for the dog to figure it out later on. I taught my chihuahua to retrieve - get the item, bring it to me even from long distances away, and deliver it to my hand (she jumps up to reach my hand
) - but never knew to teach her to hold it. While the retrieve was relatively easy for her to learn, teaching her hold now is proving to be extremely difficult. BUT, just like everything you train, it's up to you.