The Manners Minder is an expensive toy which spits goodies when
you click.

http://www.premier.com/View.aspx?
page=dogs/products/behavior/newproducts/manners

I'm using one in agility class to train Maybe on contacts and I
find it wonderful. Our local humane society sells them, so I
bought one for home use.

It works well for a somewhat food-motivated dog (Rocky just
wants to lick the dispensing hole, so shaping is out for him),
but Maybe is taking to it well, especially when it comes to
contacts in agility.

The DVD is good, in a basic sense, and there are plenty of
Youtube videos.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

Rocky wrote:
The Manners Minder is an expensive toy which spits goodies when
you click.

http://www.premier.com/View.aspx?
page=dogs/products/behavior/newproducts/manners

This looks like a good thing, and I've found prices as low as
$90US here and there.

I might have to grab one. Thanks for the pointer, Matt!

--
Mark Shaw (And Baron) moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm
================================================== =======================
"There is no psychiatrist in the world
like a puppy licking your face." -Ben Williams

Mark Shaw said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

I might have to grab one.

At home, I'm using it to train Maybe's weaves. I didn't even
start her on weaves until about a month ago (she's now 17
months). At class, I use it on contacts.

And it's dynamite on contacts - both 2-on-2-off and running
(stride regulation).

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

Rocky wrote:
Mark Shaw said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

I might have to grab one.

At home, I'm using it to train Maybe's weaves. I didn't even
start her on weaves until about a month ago (she's now 17
months). At class, I use it on contacts.

So, how do you do this, exactly? For contacts, do you put the
receiver/treat-giver on the down-contact itself? Or what?

Weaves, I'm even more puzzled. At the exit?

Thanks for any info - I did read the instruction manual, but
I'm kind of puzzled how this would work for agility....

--
Mark Shaw (And Baron) moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm
================================================== =======================
"A dog is the only animal who has seen his god." -Unknown

Mark Shaw said in
rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

So, how do you do this, exactly? For contacts, do you put
the receiver/treat-giver on the down-contact itself? Or
what?

For 2o2o for my dog, I put it about 12 inches from the contact
bottom. Initially, ding-treat when the dog acknowledges the
treat-giver and stops. Then, ding-treat for 2o2o.

A friend uses it for running contacts, adjusting the distance
from the down contact depending upon her dogs' stide length.
She ding-treats (I can't think of a better term) when the dog
stride-adjusts to hit the contacts. Kind of like box training
but without laying the foundation for the box.

Weaves, I'm even more puzzled. At the exit?

I'm taking it slower, rewarding the entrance, and then the
second pole, and then the next. This *may* result in slow
weaves. I'm complacent, though, in that my past luring
methods still resulted in sub 3 second weaves for Friday,
which are plenty fast. Great weaves are 2.5 seconds. World-
level weaves are 2 seconds.

Once the dog knows the weaves, there's no reason to not
reinforce speed. I've just Youtubed on "Manners Minder" and
found this weave demo:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd0u9XT_aDs

A good demonstration of using a bunch of techniques.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

Mark Shaw said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

Thanks for any info - I did read the instruction manual, but
I'm kind of puzzled how this would work for agility....

I didn't address this in my last post.

I've never been a click'n'treat trainer, so I may be missing
some of the fine points. I simply can't click and treat agility
because I find it too cumbersome, what with manipulating the
clicker, the treat, and making sure that I'm not sending
inadvertent signals.

IME, click and treating works well on a foundation level, which
is what I'm doing with this expensive toy, but I'm freeing up
one hand. This works well for us.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.