Today's Sunshine

We've been working on a trick for a while, nothing impressive, just Monster sitting up straight (with his front paws off the ground). He got the basics of it quickly, however I've been having trouble getting him to stay up for any time. If he doesn't get the reward straight away, he'll try other things, either bouncing up and down alternating, or combining them and doing for example a silent bark while sitting up straight.

Now, unfortunately this is not a post where I tell you I have now succeeded in making him understand what's expected of him. It's a post where I tell you he showed me a better trick and I caved in!

It may not sound like Sunshine - in fact it probably isn't -  to change intentions in the middle of training like this. But I like it, so you can all suck it!

What? You got something to say?

This evening, Monster began applauding while sitting up straight. He claps his front paws together repeatedly, and it looks adorable! (Yes, I said "adorable". Live with it.) He quickly responded to reinforcement of this behavior, and after three short sessions, he now offers it fairly reliably. It may have messed up the chance of him ever doing the trick as I intended it, but I don't care - Monster's idea was better.

Is this what's called shaping?

(No photo, unfortunately. Not quick enough with the camera.)