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Puppy Lesson 1

School time for our puppies! Here is your first to-do list. The first task might sound a little silly for those with adult dogs, but in fact, it's never silly to make a recall even better!

1. call your dog at least 10 times a day to do something fun together: to play, to go out, to get a treat, something to chew on or a new exciting toy

2. put a plate (or another object, but I like to start with a plate as puppies can't chew on those too easily) on a floor and shape a puppy to touch it with a front paw: you can first click for head movement in the right direction, then one/two/three steps, then stepping over it or close to it and finally for stepping on it

3. sit on a floor and put a fist full of treats or dog's favourite toy right in front of their nose, wait till they stop sniffing and click for anything they try other than getting directly to the food/toy or staring at it. It's very important the dog understands staring at food/toy doesn't get him anywhere as it will later on allow you to work with food/toys in your hand without distracting the dog's focus from the job at hand.

4. find a box or a drawer that is as long as your dog and not too high and shape a dog to put 1-2-3-4 legs into it. Then try with smaller&smaller objects, final goal is the dog can stand in a small bowl.

5. observe your puppy and see if he sometimes stretches his legs out when in down position, puppies often do that when relaxed or playing. Name it (I call it "frog":) and reward. It's a nice stretching exercise and very easy to get it on cue if the dog does it naturally (some dogs do it as adults too, but mine didn't and it was much harder to train it as with puppy Le who was doing that naturally). If not, put a dog in a down position and reward from the floor and so far ahead that the dog needs to stretch out to get it - but not so far that he would crawl ahead. Watch the hind legs and click for moving them back OR out, but NOT for crawling step forward.

Looking forward to see your videos!


262 Comments

  1. laura February 22, 2011 at 15:29 Log in to Reply

    Point 2: Do they need to touch the plate with only 1 paw? Or it’s ok that they step over it with both front paws?
    Thanks. Laura

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    • LoLaBu February 22, 2011 at 16:16 Log in to Reply

      One, the other or both, anything goes 🙂

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  2. Nancy February 22, 2011 at 19:33 Log in to Reply

    Hi Everyone, Here’s a quick video to test loading videos. It’s working with the box. I had already done some work with a larger box.

    4 feet in the box Click Anything Click Front Feet Click Hind

    Nancy Creel and Nero

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  3. Rachel February 22, 2011 at 20:49 Log in to Reply

    Funky and I shaping the plate. We haven’t worked with a plate and with the kitty distraction. I had to opt for a space in my house where I was able to do some training. However feline distraction is a good thing (not when they are stealing treats out of my back pocket what you can’t see in the video).

    20110222 Funky shaping plate

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    • LoLaBu February 22, 2011 at 21:30 Log in to Reply

      Wow, what a smart and coordinated puppy! We actually only wanted front feet on, but well, I guess you did the mixture of a box and a plate trick -- why not! 🙂

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      • Rachel February 23, 2011 at 21:55 Log in to Reply

        Thanks Silvia 🙂 I repeated the same exercise again, this time outdoors with no kitty distraction but with a smaller plate. Funky offered 2 paws on plate. My older dogs did the exercise with yesterdays larger plate and they did well too. Actually Esprit did the circling from your heeling video and I had to concentrate to click him for immediate stepping on plate with 2 paws.

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    • Jennifer March 1, 2011 at 12:38 Log in to Reply

      Rachel, we want more Funky! He is such a cute and smart pup!
      Jen and Buddy

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  4. Jonina February 22, 2011 at 21:43 Log in to Reply

    Hi Silvia and all classmates!

    I have not filmed the first task, I started filming the second task. I thought I post the first session immediately then I know whether I do well or not. I have not cut or paste in this video I only had to split the movie in half or it would not be able to put on youtube.
    Excuse me it has become a long movie, the next one will be shorter! (I did not realize we were doing it that long!)

    I hope this is good and understandable english 😉

    Greetings Jonina & Jin

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    • LoLaBu February 22, 2011 at 22:26 Log in to Reply

      Hm, are you clicking for 4 feet on an object? We’re doing 4 in a box and 2 on a plate… Try smaller object, so that she is not too tempted to put hind feet on and click for front feet only.

      Also, an explanation on video length for everybody: as written in the description of the class, your video should be max. 5min per lesson. You can also post 5 1-minute videos so that you can get immediate feedback. Please, make your videos short and efficient, just as your training should be 🙂

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      • Jonina February 22, 2011 at 22:39 Log in to Reply

        Oops I’m a bad student 😀

        I misunderstood. I was clicking for stepping on an object.
        (Lession 1. starts wel…ahum!)
        Next session will be on a smaller object.
        Again my apologies our training and video will be shorter the next time.

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        • LoLaBu February 22, 2011 at 23:00 Log in to Reply

          No problem, 4on is a nice trick too 🙂 It’s just that then 2on are harder to get, that’s why smaller object would help.

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  5. Jennifer February 22, 2011 at 23:41 Log in to Reply

    Hi Silvia and classmates!
    I am going to post this video of a recent training session; first to try how to post video and for you to see where we are in our training.
    I already love the other training videos that where posted!
    This is going to be fun!
    Jen and Buddy

    Clicker training session for Heeling, Stay and recall

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  6. Jennifer February 23, 2011 at 00:05 Log in to Reply

    I am not sure if that worked. will try again.
    We already do 2on and all 4’s in a dishpan. The frog will be a challenge, he never kicks his legs out when lying down. we’ll give it a try.
    Jen and Buddy

    Clicker Training-Buddy practicing leg weaves

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  7. Jennifer February 23, 2011 at 00:10 Log in to Reply

    Sorry, Silvia,
    I’m afraid you’ll be flooded with videos! Didn’t realize there was a limit on it until I read Jonina’s post. I will post just a short video for lesson 1.
    Jen and Buddy

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    • LoLaBu February 23, 2011 at 21:18 Log in to Reply

      No problem, that was very nice heeling! 🙂

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  8. Alicia February 23, 2011 at 11:13 Log in to Reply

    Hi there all, i am so excited that we have started. Wonderfull to see the videos already posted. Spy can do the 2 on a target and 4 in a small bowl as we have been working on that since i watched the puppy video Silvia put up and decided to try a few of the tricks from that. The 2 above that i am not sure about are the food and toy one 1st. Is it absolutly anything even looking at me and not the toy or food even an offer on a behavior already learned? And secondly the Froggie, I put her in the down and she comes a little forward which allows her back legs to go into a streched out frog is that ok? Or does she have to down and push her legs back out with no forward movement at all? thanks so much Alicia and Spy.

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    • LoLaBu February 23, 2011 at 20:16 Log in to Reply

      Yes, anything other than staring at the toy/food is o.k. And yes, sure, she can move forward, but not step forward with hind legs, hind legs need to stay behind and stretch out.

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      • Alicia February 24, 2011 at 07:07 Log in to Reply

        Cool got it.

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  9. Valori February 23, 2011 at 11:44 Log in to Reply

    Plate 001

    Play is not having an issue putting front feet o back feet but I am having a hard time to get all 4 feet on the plate. He does it with larger objects. Ideas? Val

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    • Bekka February 23, 2011 at 18:35 Log in to Reply

      Maybe use the large object he’s successful on, then downsize it just a bit, then just a bit more as he is successful. Maybe he’s hasn’t developed the coordination/balance to compress his body to handle a big size change in the target?

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    • LoLaBu February 23, 2011 at 21:14 Log in to Reply

      Well, you only want front feet on a plate anyway 🙂 Looks good, he doesn’t seem to have a problem with objects moving under his feet either, that’s a good start for a teeter! 🙂

      0
  10. Emillan February 23, 2011 at 12:40 Log in to Reply

    Sorry I posted the comment in the wrong place…lol!
    Here we go again…:)

    Good morning all,

    Valori, I saw your video with play and I have to say I have the very same problem with Darwin (I will post the video some time tomorrow) he offers the two front paws no problem and the two back paws too but he seems not able to associate the idea of compressing in order to put the 4 paws in the plate.

    The funny thing is that he doesn’t have any trouble getting into something bigger like a box as long as he doesnt have to compress his body….??

    Someone has some Idea how to fix this?

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    • Sandy February 23, 2011 at 13:48 Log in to Reply

      I have had the same problem, and came up with a solution; rotate the box. First long side, then short side, and thén switch to a smaller box.
      Video coming up 🙂

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      • laura February 23, 2011 at 14:41 Log in to Reply

        I did the same thing as Sandy, but with my other dog I put a smaller bowl INTO the big one and then took the big one out. Hope it helps.

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        • laura February 23, 2011 at 14:52 Log in to Reply

          Anyway I think the plate would be good for the 2-paws-on trick, not for the 4-legs-in-a-box. For that one I would use a bowl, not a plate. And Valori, I don’t know if it’s my problem, but I can’t see your video… It says an error occurred…

          0
      • LoLaBu February 23, 2011 at 20:26 Log in to Reply

        Yes. OR you can make it smaller by putting something to one side (newspaper or something). OR find a smaller box and put it into an old one, they can usually do it then as they believe they can do it as it looks the same as it did before you put a smaller box into it 🙂

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    • LoLaBu February 23, 2011 at 20:23 Log in to Reply

      I do. Do front feet only on a plate! Obviously, I was not explicit enough, but we only want a dog to step on a plate with one or two front legs, we don’t want hind legs for that one. “Compressing” we are teaching through “4in” trick. For this one, start with a box and make it smaller&smaller gradually, that’s the easiest way to progress to a small bowl. But that’s another tricks as “2 feet on a plate”.

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sialaSilvia Trkman is known for bringing every dog, from her first dog on, to the very top of the sport. Her dogs are known for great speed, tight turns, running contacts and long and injury-free careers. Silvia is in agility since 1992 and is
– 3x World Champion (with two different dogs)
– 5x European Open winner, with 4 different dogs (Lo, La, Bu, Le)!!!
– National Championships podium and World Team member with every dog she’s ever had
– National Champion for 22-times (with 5 different dogs of 3 different breeds)

– World Team member for 19-times (mostly with at least two dogs at the time – sometimes four 🙂 )

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