Duration part 2: chin rest in use
Throughout Weeks 1 and 2, we practiced the nose touch and chin rest. You may be wondering why we included them. Why was it important?
We can use the nose touch the dog offers to our palm as a carefully planned, practical bridge to duration on the odor tin.
This bridge is optional. You can build duration with the progression from the previous lesson alone, but for some teams the hand-to-tin transfer is a useful troubleshooting tool.
Behavior:
- nose vertically on the tin,
- the tin is held in your palm
- nose position maintained for a specific time
You will need:
- around 40 treats per session (it is good to use some of your dog’s daily portion)
- a fluent duration criterion for the nose-touch behavior
Criteria:
- correct, precise position and maintaining this position for specified in advance time. It can be one second for a start.
Delivery of treats:
- you may use the marker cue if it was already part of the nose-touch procedure
- deliver treats from the second hand (not the nose touch hand)
- if you click, deliver the reinforcer away from the source
Progression:
- nose touch no tin x3
- nose touch tin x1
- nose touch no tin x3
- nose touch tin x1
- end of session! When this pattern is fluent, gradually increase the number of repetitions that include the tin.
This is a video of my former students Carol and Odie doing a variation of this exercise. Carol also shows a great way to deal with error – she simply tossed a treat, reset, and arranged another repetition.
