School time for our puppies! Here is your first to-do list.
Just a short note first: there are lots of tasks waiting for you in this class as I like to keep it interesting also for those dogs who already know some of the tricks. HOWEVER, make sure you're not focusing on teaching too much as fast as possible, to the degree of trying to help/lure - but instead take the time and focus on the fun part. In order not to make you feel under pressure, I will be underlining the tasks you should focus on in each lesson. The rest you can do if the underlined exercises are going well, but we don't need those for the next lesson, so it doesn't hurt if you address those later.
1. 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! 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 towards the plate, 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 with all 4 feet 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. It usually helps if you try to get them stretch over a pillow, like in this video:
Looking forward to see your videos! You can send them in one or more pieces, but keep the total length of the videos sent per lesson under 10min. Don't wait until you master the tricks before sending your videos, just post whatever you're working on for some feedback.
Lance already does a nose touch to a plastic lid on the floor. I’d like to maintain that behavior (used by the agility school we attend for contacts) and add the one foot touch. Any suggestions on how to train to have both?
Ups, I originally thought this was posted to Foundations and you’re asking about contact performance with a nose touch, but I see my mistake now so I removed my first answer and the right answer is what I wrote to Louise about it: to avoid the confusion with a nose touch, try to use a completely differently looking target, maybe try with something like a bowl/dish upside down -- so something bigger and more elevated as you would normally use for a nose touch, so that it’s more likely you get a paw touch. Once you put it on a verbal cue, you can ask for paw touches on other objects too.
For the front paw exercise, do you leave the plate out? If so I assume you should throw the treat so the dog removes the paw and moves away from the plate, then comes back to put paw back on? Or do you C/T, remove the plate, then put it down again?
My puppy is doing great with this, but when I try it with my adults, who have all learned a nose touch, I’m getting more nose touches than paw touches. It’s all muddied. It’s so much easier with a puppy who has a clean slate, lol.
Yes, I leave the plate out all the time and first reward by tossing a treat away to then get another touch. Later on, I also add some duration by rewarding in a position, with a paw on a plate. The general rule is to reward away for action and to reward in a position for duration. I like tossing treats for action as it gives you even more action AND most dogs find chasing treats really fun too. It’s especially good idea for those dogs who tend to sit and stare instead of offering other behaviours. And yes, to avoid the confusion with nose touch, try to use a completely differently looking target, maybe try with something like a bowl/dish upside down -- so something bigger and more elevated as you would normally use for a nose touch. Once you put it on verbal cue, you can ask for paw touches on other objects too.
So glad to be here and excited to discover homework!!!
With Kalhy we have already began to learn “Four paws in a bowl”. What do you about our work? Can I reduce the bowl size?
What a cute and smart little puppy! And yes, you can reduce the size of a bowl as soon as the puppy is constantly offering 4in. Usually, the easiest way to introduce a new object is to first put the new, smaller object, into an old, already known object.
Thank ou Silvia! What a great idea to introduce a new object!
What a smart, cute puppy!
Thanks for her Natalie =)
I had already taught Pippa a “2 front paws on …” that I named “target”. We started on a bowl, and are now using a ball or closing the regrigerator door with this one. (Video coming as soon as I figure out how to use the camera AND how to upload! )
So, I’ve started on a “one front paw” touch using a plastic lid held slightly off the ground. She has a very strong preference for using her right front paw. A question for you -- should I use a completely different cue for her left front paw or will that end up being too much once we get to Cik and Cap and left and right? Right now I am cuing her by touching the paw I want her to use very lightly.
You definitely want her to use both legs. You can put them on two different names, but for me, it was too hard to remember so I ended up using “paw” and “the other”: not caring which one they chose first, but being able to get the other one too. Good luck with the video too! 🙂
Do you put a name to each of the task. I am calling task #2 paw touch but I am not sure what name to put to task #4.
No, I actually don’t have a name for every trick, there would be too many… For those that include an object, an object will become a cue for a behaviour, so you don’t really need a name too, but you can of course name it if you want. You could use “in”, “box” or, one of my students uses “muffin” 🙂 -- as the dog looks like a muffin when standing with all 4 feet in a very small bowl 🙂
Since June, I started learning clicker and some basic tricks with Garlic. I discovered this class in sept and I am very happy to join it ! This afternoon, I began touch it with a paw. But I get touch with two paws, because of previous learning so it is a good idea to try with an other object. I take a small vertical and stable box with success. ( I am not at home for 3 days because of my job, so videos this WE ). For frog teach, I get it two times but
I don’t how : very fun because my small parson girl isn’t a dog, but SHE IS A FROG ( a photo soon )!!!
Oh, actually two paws is good too! If you want just one, simply use such a small object that there won’t be room for both, but actually, we’ll need both feet on too. Ideally, the dog is offering all three variations: one paw, the other one and both. Looking forward to see her frog too! Happy clicking!
This training session went on far too long. That said, I decided to post the whole thing so you can set me straight as to what I need to change and get me on the right path right from the start :-). I thought I would be able to get all 4 paws in the smaller, and higher, container but it wasn’t happening. I should have quit earlier. Should I go back to the bigger one where she was successful for awhile longer? As you can see she prefers toys over food, and can be rather blase when I’m shaping (ie lying down, sniffing, walking away). She is only 14 weeks old but these sessions seem to bore her sometimes. My other dogs have more drive so I find myself getting frustrated sometimes, although she is getting better as her desire for food increases.
Yeap, that was definitely somewhat long of a session for such a young puppy. The progression to another container was too fast -- I wait they offer nice, immediate 4in on one size for at least 5 times in a row before trying another object. It’s normal she looses interest when frequency of clicking gets too low -- you do need to keep the task easy enough that your reinforcement rate can be very very high in those beginning stages. She is very focused and interested as long as you keep rewarding often. You can of course wait longer with a more experienced dog -- but you can’t afford it with a puppy that is just starting off.
Also, another thing you can try is to be more excited and happy yourself. What I noticed with Le when she was a small puppy and one of the students from a previous class noticed with her puppy too is that when you’re too serious and not communicative, they don’t like it as much as when you talk more and get more excited about jackpots. When I was serious and quiet, it looked like Le thought “oh, so you don’t like this shaping thing too much -- then I don’t like it either” -- and when I talked to her more and get really excited for jackpots she was “oh, o.k., so we like this game now!” -- and got much more focused and enthusiastic about it. It doesn’t matter to her that much now anymore, but my attitude sure made a difference at the beginning.
Hope this helps some!
Thanks, that does help. It might explain why she prefers toys over food, I am more animated when I’m using toys, and still when using food. I will jazz myself up 🙂
That’s exactly why this came to my mind as worth trying! Le also had a big preference for toys as a puppy, but looking back, I think it’s mostly because I was always acting silly, making funny noises and moving with her when playing versus sitting quietly in a corner, observing her carefully and looking very serious when using food!
Here is our first video session with 4 in a box, we’ve been doing this for a little while so he’s getting into a smaller box. When we first started with a large plastic box he loved the game so much he was flying into it, as it’s gotten smaller he’s not as enthusiastic about it anymore! He still tries hard though! The second box I use in the video is where we are at with size, the third box was the first time we’ve tried that, I think it’s a bit too tall for him so I’ll cut it down and see if he can get in. He can, he just wants to be able to sit no matter how small it’s getting! Once he’s used to this one I’ll try some bowls and different containers.
Here’s a little frog aswell, he loves this game! I’ve also trained him to do ‘seal’ legs aswell which someone in march class did. Again we’ve been doing this for a little while. I used a pillow initially to train him, had him lie over the pillow and he picked it up pretty quickly. I’m now trying to get it soley on cue which is partly working if I’m crouched down but not so much when standing up, so will take a bit longer to get that! He seems to think frog is combined with crossing paws though because they both start in a down, he’ll cross paws when I want frog and do frog when I want crossed paws!
He is sure trying really hard with that small box, what a good boy! You can try something somewhat bigger first though and pay attention to reward low, with head down, as that will keep him in stand position and will make the transfer to a smaller box easier. Also, those really small boxes get really tippy, so you might want to hold it to avoid it’s falling over. Frog is going really well too, but yes, I actually go for seal legs: first even legs out are o.k., but you definitely want to get to completely stretched out legs too. And he is sure just too funny with crossing the legs at the same time! 🙂
What is seal legs?
I actually simply call it frog legs, but some call frog legs when they’re out to the side and seal legs when they’re stretched back out.
Oh ok, yeh I saw them do both in other puppy class and thought it was cute so wanted both too! Havn’t pushed for ‘seal’ as much though so will practice that more. He keeps trying to crawl forward when we do that. Will do as you say with the box, thanks!
Maybe try again with higher pillow to prevent crawling?
Here is video of Papu standing in a box. We started with a very big one and I guess that was good as he immediately had trouble with a smaller one. The last one we did was a shoe box and after few minutes that went well too (unfortunately my memory card got full, so you can’t really see that on the video). I edited out about half of our training session and two breaks. Now that I watch this, I think we should have started with task 3 as Papu is very interested in the treat bowl and my hands…
What a smart dog! Very good reinforcement rate from your part too and very nice, not-to-fast progression with difficulties! Keep working like this, switching to smaller&smaller boxes.
I am having trouble with the frog dog. I can’t seem to get it without luring. She will go and lay down on the pillow, then I lure her forward with a treat and then I will get the frog dog, but I know this isn’t the right way of doing it. I can’t capture any hind end movement while she’s down.
You actually can lure some on that one. The purpose of task 3 is NOT to make the dog un-lurable, the purpose is to make them able to think even with a treat infront of their face 🙂 -- Or, you can of course use an empty hand and a nose touch to it to get the stretch forward.
Hmm, good idea. I’m going to try it with a target stick.