Foot-Warming for Safety
I'm kicking around the idea of
teaching Glindy a new public access behavior. Glindy has an
unfortunate tendency to sprawl near my chair in restaurants that
don't provide enough room under the table, or behind me in line
when we're long queues at the grocery store. I'd really like her to
be in a safer spot where she'll less likely to get her tail stomped
on.
My idea is to teach her to lay on my toes, preferably nestled
between my feet and the central column of a dining table, or
between me and the checkout counter at the store. The idea was
inspired by the rude woman on a recent airplane ride who decided
Glindy would make a great foot-warmer for her nasty, sandaled
feet.
I try to evaluate ideas on their merits, regardless of the source.
So, my training plan for this task is as follows:
- Use Glindy's hand-targeting to lure her sideways in front of my
feet.
- Put her in a down-stay on my toes or just in front of
them.
- Repeat about 10-20 times, until she knows what the sequence
will be.
- Precede the behavior chain with a verbal cue such as "toes" and
the pseudo-ASL sign of a downward-sweeping F. (I made this one up,
as I couldn't find a real ASL sign for "toe.")
- Reinforcing a stay in this position.
We'll work on it, and see how "toes" goes.