Once Chai knows how to place objects into different containers, my hand will become just another container! Let’s see how we get from A to B.

October 12, 2023: first session of adding my hand to a familiar container

Nice start! In our next session, I’ll start with my hand in the bowl and then only offer my hand.

October 13, 2023: a lovely coin session!

I’m happy with today’s session!

October 17, 2023: Hand me a coin, continued!

Next time, I’ll vary the object!

October 26, 2023: I sit in a chair and Chai hands me a coin, tape, toy and toothbrush! Go puppy!

This is looking better and better! Some more generalizing of my body position, the location and the objects (this should also refine Chai’s targeting skills), and then the trick will be ready for a cue! (I’m thinking “Gimme!” or “Gimme, gimme, gimme!” – that ABBA song.)

October 29, 2023: different objects; no bowl to start with!

Chai did great today and understood what I wanted even though I didn’t start with a bowl! First object: the familiar baseball toy. No problem for her!

Second object: a squishy spiky ball. More fun to chew than hand to me!

Third object: the rubber thing that’s on my kitchen faucet. Tempting to chew at first but can then be handed over!

Fourth object: metal spoon. A little difficult to pick up the first time, but once she had figured it out, she did great!

I’ll keep working on this trick once or twice a week. I already have a couple winner objects I’ll keep mixing in: baseball toy, spoon, nail clippers, coin, glue stick. When using any of these, I’ll start using the “Gimme!” cue in the future.

I have a semi-new object (I used it but at an point in our training journey) I want to also use – no cue yet: an onion.

I also want to add the following new objects – maybe not every single one, but these come to mind: nail polish bottle (easy – I think), lime (easy – I think), plastic bottle lid (easy), beer can (medium – I think), mug (difficult to pick up), credit card (difficult), cellphone (difficult), wallet (medium), bill (difficult to not destroy?), keys (medium). No cue yet on any of these for sure.

I want to add a cue to all of the above and then try and get the same result when I’m standing up. Later on, I’d like to teach Chai to hand me objects I drop with the dropping itself being the cue.

October 21, 2023: adding the “Gimme” cue and standing up

Today, we worked with the glue stick, a 10-peso-coin and a spoon:

November 11, 2023

The keys on the keychain were too difficult … I’ll either take off the chain or use a different novel object next time!

January 3, 2023: Picking the fetch-anything-to-hand trick back up after a break!

I only used objects I thought would be easy and didn’t use a verbal cue in this session. I wanted to see how much Chai remembered!

Nice job, little Border Collie! She did really well and remembers the idea!

Notes for the next session:

I’ll use different objects next time – maybe start with the highlighter because it’s easy – and generalize a bit more before adding the “Gimme!” cue again and moving on to more difficult objects. I won’t use the DEET spray again because it probably tasted disgusting and may create aversion to this trick.

January 4, 2024: new objects!

Today, I tried some new objects and the keys Chai had struggled with when they had the chain attached … turns out they are still hard without a chain, as is a full water bottle:

Notes for the next session(s):

• Keep up the 3-successful-reps-in-a-row strategy before switching objects!
• Water bottle strategy: start with an empty one and work up to bottles containing more and more liquid (add weight) OR buy two full bottles and play a 2-toy game with them (like I did with the coins) to teach Chai she can pick them up.
• Keys strategy: turn it into a game to teach her she can pick them up. Maybe 2 sets of keys for a game of 2-toy fetch?
• Objects I want to eventually work up to (no rush): wallet (probably medium), credit card (probably difficult), keys (difficult), phone (probably difficult), beer can (probably medium after I’ve taught heavy, i.e. full, plastic bottles), bill (easy except for the danger of being ripped to shreds).

January 5, 2024: solving the key chain mystery!

I decided to play with the keys to see if I could encourage Chai to pick them up this way. My original suspicion, after trying with the full-length key chain attached, was that it was the keychain (the size of the object) that made it too hard to pick up. When I unclipped the chain (except for its little end piece) yesterday and Chai still couldn’t pick up the keys, I thought it was most likely the car key (the electronic key; maybe something inside of it smells weird or vibrates in some scary way you bite down on it). I tested this by first only using the keys, and then the keys with the keychain, and then only the car keys … turns out Chai is happy to play with both the keys and the car keys – but NOT with the little end piece of the key chain! Fascinating! I don’t know what it is about that piece, but I’m just going to have her let a say in this and will get a new keychain!

Without further ado – here’s our play session:

And the subsequent fetch session:

Here is a list of the overall fetch-to-hand objects that matter to me and the ones that I’ve already accomplished. Some of them are for fun; some of them are potentially useful service dog tasks if I drop stuff. This list is longer than yesterday’s list. E stands for “I believe it will be easy,” M for “medium difficulty” and D for “difficult.” This is just my suspicion; she may surprise me!

Wallet (M), credit card (D), keys, phone (D), beer can (M), bank bill (easy except for the danger of being ripped to shreds), full plastic bottles (D), coin, 2 types of mugs, leash handle (D), retractable leash (D), keys with new (yet to be acquired) key chain (D).

I’ll put at least one of the above we haven’t yet conquered into each new rotation! Eventually, I want “dropping the thing” to be the cue for Chai to pick it up and hand it to me. Same goes for pointing and “Gimme” if I haven’t dropped the thing. Only the beer cans may go into a more complex trick if I feel like it (open fridge, get beer, close fridge, bring beer …). The phone may be put on a “find my phone” cue if I feel like it – I am very talented at displacing my phone, so this may be neat and more useful (though less fun) than teaching Chai to fetch it when it rings.