Tonight went well. I 'went back to kindergarden' with Mr. Bingley on the behavior of him going into his crate because whatever I was doing wasn't working well. I clicked him for being near the crate, then clicked for sticking his nose in the crate, then for putting his paws in the crate, lastly for him being in the crate.
I am also redoing how I am training them going into the crate. Now, when I put the crate down, the only training I will be doing is that with the crate. I will still pair the cue of 'kennel' with that of going inside it, but I am hoping that the presence of the crate alone will become the cue to go inside it. I may have to change this in the future as I don't know how practical it will be later during playtime. I was hoping to intermittenly ask them to go into the crate without bring it to the cage. This way they never knew if playtime was over or if they were just going to get a pellet. However, I am hoping this will speed up the learning process as it really does break my heart when they run away from me because I need to put them back. I just don't want to terrify them anymore.
I am working on 'stay' right now. I hold out my hand like an 'okay' sign. That will be his signal. I first ask him to touch my hand, and then I form my hand into that 'okay' sign saying 'stay'. This is the second day of working on stay. I know I tried to take it too fast tonight. I pulled my hand away just a bit in that 'okay' sign but he didn't get it, and of course moved to my hand. I will go back to just having right at his nose and waiting until he stays completely still with that. Clicking and rewarding as appropriate. I think he needs to learn that 'touch' and 'stay' are two different things, and right now I suspect that he just thinks that he needs to follow my hand for a reward. I need to remind myself that chinchillas are not rats. My rats pick up everything so quickly! The chinchillas need me to go slower and break down the 'successive approximations' even more.
Mr. Bingley really seems to understand what training is now. He doesn't wander away nearly as much. His attention span is sooooo much better. When I went back to kindergarten with him, I could see that he was really trying to figure out how to make me click. He would stick his nose in the crate hear the click, come to me for food, and then go back to the crate and stick his nose in it again. If I didn't click he would move around and seeminly try something different. He also tried to get at the treat in my hand. After a few seconds of trying this, when he realized 'oh, I'm not going to get treats this way' he went back to exploring the crate... which he was previously rewarded for. This makes me so incredibly happy that he seemingly 'gets it' now. He is now really thinking about what his actions mean.
As far as Mr. Darcy goes, I have been just working with him on getting him to step up on my shoulder and stay there to get him out of my cage. Right now, he thinks it is a good idea that when mommy lets him out of the cage to jump out of my hands and explore the living room. My living room is not chinchilla safe, and jumping out of my hands is not safe either. So, I put all other training with him to a halt, and am working on just this with him.
I have been working on this for two days now, and he has gotten the idea that when I put my shoulder to the cage he needs to go onto my shoulder and stay there. As soon as he moves from my shoulder I guide him with my hand back to the cage... and of course no reward.
Mr. Darcy seems to be the more 'brilliant' of the two. I haven't been clicker training him as long as Bing, but he seems to catch on a bit quicker. Maybe I was wrong and he is more food driven then Bing. I don't think he 'gets it' like Mr. Bingley does quite yet, but I think he does understand a little bit of what I am trying to teach him.
This is an exciting time for me... two really good nights almost back to back.
