Place Got Harder When the Pouch Came Out
- Focus
- nose workplaceimpulse control
- Location
- Living room
- Duration
- 10 minutes
- Arousal
- 5/5
- Reinforcers
- freeze dried raw food, baked chicken breast
Plan
Introductory nose work. Gunner holds place and watches me set out the scent pouch, so he knows where it is before I release him to find it.
What happened
He kept breaking place while I set the pouch out. I reset him each time. After a few resets I dropped the scent and did short reps of place by itself, reinforcing him for holding position.
What Gunner showed me
He knows place. He couldn’t hold it yet while watching me set up a game he wanted. The pouch made a behavior he already had harder.
Handler check
I raised the criteria without meaning to. Resetting kept breaking from paying off, and backing up to short duration gave him reps he could win. I don’t want to lose his excitement just to get a cleaner place.
Next session
Keep duration short, set the pouch closer, and reward on place before I start moving. Add distance once he can hold while anticipating the search.