So smart

Bare's hearing training has been coming along nicely. First I had to teach her "touch" which means she comes and touches me on the leg with her nose when I give the verbal cue. She enjoyed learning that and was offering the behavior even without cues, something we're still working on stopping. Then we added the next element: the alarm sound. I used the a tone on my cell phone to mimic an alarm clock type sound. Each time I set the alarm off I said "touch" right after so that she eventually learned that the sound is another signal for her to give me the touch behavior. She was doing well with that and I started making her sit or lie down first and then set off the alarm, which caused a bit of confusion initially (imagine someone always telling you to "sit and stay" or "down and stay" and then all of sudden telling you that its ok if you come out of the sit or down, but only for the alarm...confusing, right?), but she's gotten a hang of that too.

Today we took the next step...adding "show me" after she alerts me (comes and touches my leg) to the alarm. I was amazed at how quickly she caught on that "show me" means go to the source of the alarm and basically point to it or touch it with your nose. I increased the difficulty by moving my cell phone around the room so she wasn't always pointing to the same spot. We're still perfecting this since she still tends to want to go find the alarm in places it was initally set, but she almost always finds it after some encouragement. I'm happy at how much she seems to really enjoy this work. It's just a big game for her...Ooo I get to come poke you when I hear the alarm and Ooo! look! look! here it is!! and of course the tons of treats she gets as rewards help too. :)