I’ve decided to make a couple more adjustments:
- I will keep going down the staircase once and then giving Game a break. She is doing really well with this.
- I will measure progress by looking what she can do with a cat at average distance – the distance the cat was at baseline, which is where most cats show up. I will not count closer cats (like the one in part 5) or cats that are further away (like the one under the white table in part 2). Baseline distance is here is anywhere in the area I circled, and includes cats sitting on one of these two chairs:
Steps of progress from baseline with a single cat at baseline distance
- Skip tugging, and go from cat watching directly to tosses high value treats.
- Skip tugging, and go from cat watching directly tosses with kibble.
- Go from cat watching right to food from hand high value treats.
- Go from cat watching right to food from hand with kibble.
- Go from cat watching right to a high-value treat scatter.
- Go from cat watching right to a kibble scatter.
In addition, I may add some Give Me A Break CU game sprinkles anytime I toss treats, and it seems like a good idea. Will explain why it felt like I good idea in the commentary going along with my video.
It would be neat to start with a closed glass door, go to a closed screen door and then to the door open – but this may not be possible because the door is already going to be in a certain position (which will be different throughout the day) when uncontrollable cats are being spotted by Game, so I’ll make my life easier and not going to factor this in.
I may not be able to get all of the above on video – note to self: prioritize training – but I’ll video what I can and share. I suspect that by the time I get to #7, I’ll be moving out of this AirBnB – so that’s where we’ll stop. It seems a realistic goal for the time I’ll be here. Whether I get there, don’t get there, or get further than that – we’ll be having fun, and there are going to be treats. “The sun is chirping, the birds are shining, the water’s wet. Life is good, sweetheart. Life is good.” (Bonus points if you randomly happen to know where this quote is from without googling. It just popped into my head – and life is good.)
No video today – but here’s a pic of one of the cats (who would be further than baseline distance):
PS: Note that there are cats several times a day. I just don’t record most of them – my external harddrive is dying (sniff), editing takes too long, and I want to keep this fun for myself.