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Puppy Oct lesson 1

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:

Lesson 1 - Frog Legs

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.


321 Comments

  1. Louise Hoelscher October 26, 2011 at 04:27 Log in to Reply

    Here is a shorter session of working all 3 tricks (with play breaks in between). I find she really lacks oomph though. It doesn’t help that her favorite treats are crunchy and she’s a slow eater :-(. However I noticed in the 4 in there are several places where I should have clicked and I didn’t. Perhaps that’s why we’re lacking in oomph.

    Tat -- Tricks -- Session 1 -- Oct 25

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    • LoLaBu October 26, 2011 at 17:21 Log in to Reply

      Yeap, you sure missed some opportunities to click -- do try to be fast and enthusiastic, talking to her even more. Less crunchy treats would help too 🙂 She seems focused and happy to work, but some dogs are like this when thinking -- and those are mostly thinking tricks. We’ll get to “happy tricks” as I call them too: spinning, figure 8 between the legs, slamming doors etc. -- those are easier and more “action” tricks, I think those will be good for her. For now, just keep working like this, she seems to love it, but takes it somewhat too seriously 🙂 Nice paw touches, almost there with the frog and for 4in, keep this box for a couple of more sessions and then try a smaller one when she is fluent with this one.

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    • Pascal HERMANN October 27, 2011 at 09:27 Log in to Reply

      Try to find easy to swallow ( without chewing ) and little treats ( cut it half or 1/4 ) and keep her favorite treats for the best action or a new success !

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  2. Heini Viitamäki October 26, 2011 at 17:01 Log in to Reply

    There’s so many other videos I should edit and post here, but I just have to share this one with you first. Papu is again having a bit difficulties adjusting all his 4 feet in the same box -- this sure is a new solution! 😀

    4 feet in a box

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    • Louise Hoelscher October 26, 2011 at 17:18 Log in to Reply

      Wow, that is awesome!

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    • LoLaBu October 26, 2011 at 22:18 Log in to Reply

      What a nice handstand! 🙂 Does he know it already? I noticed with my dogs that once they know handstand, 4in often makes them do it. When doing 4in to a small bowl, they actually do need to balance on their front feet only to bring the hind legs in!

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      • Heini Viitamäki October 27, 2011 at 06:49 Log in to Reply

        No, he does not know handstand. But it seems he just learned it! 😀

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        • LoLaBu October 27, 2011 at 20:06 Log in to Reply

          That was quick! 🙂

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    • Verena Priller October 27, 2011 at 00:31 Log in to Reply

      Thats pretty cool -- like he does nothing else than handstand 😉

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    • Erica Strom October 28, 2011 at 10:28 Log in to Reply

      Incredible! Great job. I had to check for wires -- it really looks like someone is lifting him up!

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    • Ivana Janousek October 29, 2011 at 05:33 Log in to Reply

      Louise, that is amazing. Looks like your pooch will be able to levitate! 🙂

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  3. Louise Hoelscher October 26, 2011 at 17:20 Log in to Reply

    I have been sitting while shaping these tricks and I notice everyone else is sitting as well. Should we not at some point vary our own body positions? When should we start doing that? After we’ve added a cue or before?

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    • LoLaBu October 26, 2011 at 22:34 Log in to Reply

      Well, I’m pretty lazy myself 🙂 so I’m sitting pretty much until I almost have it and only then try different positions. But I do try to change environment right from the beginning! You can switch rooms to start with, then try the yard, then street etc. -- but well, that’s in your next homework already 🙂 So yes, you can definitely try standing on sitting on a chair too.

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  4. Verena Priller October 27, 2011 at 00:43 Log in to Reply

    Here is todays work -- actually I wanted to work on having food around her and clicking whatever else she offers except for stealing and staring.
    Surprisingly (because I did not use the towel or anything else), I ended up clicking frog legs -- she offered it right away. So the good news is that she seems to have understood I was clicking the hind legs yesterday and not (only) chewing at my hand. The bad news is that she is so attracted by the food that she is not even interested in her favorite toy. If I start a play she ignores it, starts “talking” and continues to offer what we have trained the last days. A little workoholic, but only during the times when I have the clicker in my hand. She is very playful in other situtions, she plays with my other dogs or with toys or whatever she finds. But is food is around, everything else is not interesting anymore…

    Bisou -- Stretching Part II

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    • LoLaBu October 27, 2011 at 11:33 Log in to Reply

      Great! She definitely understood the frog legs! 🙂 Nice food ignoring too and when she still tries to steal, just remove the food so that she can’t get it: no firm “nein-s” needed! If she doesn’t play for now with food around, try to make separate sessions for now. Try to always do some playing first and when she is really into it, take food and do a shaping session. Then end it and after a while, try a toy again. Then bring the toy session closer to shaping session, so that you soon finish her meal, show her there is nothing left and then try to play. If she doesn’t want to, you just finish the session. If she plays, you can then bring out some more food and do another quick shaping session. You want her to see that playing with you doesn’t stop food from coming, but that she can actually prolong training sessions by playing with you. Let me know how it goes!

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  5. Marina Duboka October 27, 2011 at 01:18 Log in to Reply

    Hi all, here’s another video of Elky… Tried listening to your advices, so I kept the sessions a bit shorter, rewarding mostly from hand and also replacing the “box” for the 4-in. We also started working on the frog, but to be honest I’m not shure if we’re getting anywhere with it 🙂
    -- maybe I’m just impatient because with the other tricks the steady progress is much more visible…

    Elky tricks class, part 2

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    • Dawn Bell October 27, 2011 at 09:46 Log in to Reply

      Thanks for posting the “frog” session -- it looks just like Sammy’s!! So either we are both way off or both on the right track. I’m thinking the right track though 🙂

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    • LoLaBu October 27, 2011 at 11:42 Log in to Reply

      Tossing treats is actually great, what I meant by treats in the hand is that you keep some in the hand so that you can reward faster after the click (without getting the treat first), but still by tossing it for action tricks (like a paw touch) and rewarding from hand, in a position, for static tricks (while standing in a box for example -- but without luring into the box of course). Anyway, she sure learns amazingly fast, looks ready for a smaller box! The frog can be hard yes, does she ever do it naturally? Maybe it’s physically hard for her to do it. A higher pillow would make it easier, so you can try that. The hand on her seemed to help too, but don’t push too hard, just hold it gently.

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  6. Elizabeth Smith-Fries October 27, 2011 at 05:41 Log in to Reply

    Here is a video I finally was able to create. I’ve been having trouble with recording the sessions and getting them uploaded.

    Levi is very active, even once he successfully put all the feet in the box, I accidentally clicked a foot out of the box and he spends so much time spinning and walking through the box. Perhaps I should have ended the session with the first success? I was hoping to have another success and it took a long time for him to offer it again. I am reluctant to “end on a bad note” and want to end with a success. In the end I am trying to get duration of the stand in the box, but I am starting to get sitting!

    For the plate task, I had to switch from a real ceramic plate to a plastic plate because he was tossing it around he hits it so forcefully. I still spend a lot of time chasing the plate. Should I tape it to the floor? I’ve stopped throwing the treat out so he will return to the plate.

    Levi Tricks 10262011.m4v

    Levi has worked on ignoring treats for a while. I have not had success with getting him to lie down with his legs back. I’ve tried using a cushion. I need to work on that one more and try to get it on video.

    P.S. My cats want to have a kitty tricks class.

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    • LoLaBu October 27, 2011 at 14:03 Log in to Reply

      The cats sure look very interested too! 🙂 And oh, don’t feel under pressure to end a session on a good note, see my Busting the myths article 🙂 Not getting all 4in is not bad anyway, it’s just a learning process. I would do a couple of more sessions on this box and then try a smaller one. A paw touch looks good to me, but you can as well tape it to the ground if it’s easier for you. Try to also post your frog attempts to see how to help him more. Could be it’s physically hard for him and you would need to teach it in “dead dog” position (while lying at the side) first, I had to go that way with Bu.

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      • Elizabeth Smith-Fries October 28, 2011 at 15:01 Log in to Reply

        I have no carpets so I think the slippery floors are making him flop on his side and the cushion just seemed to confuse thing further with its sliding around and him pouncing on it 🙂 I found a small carpet and made some progress.

        I only have my phone to video tape and I am having trouble setting it up so you can see what he is doing. Need to get someone to hold it for me 🙂

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        • LoLaBu October 28, 2011 at 19:32 Log in to Reply

          You can actually try it when he flops to one hip too: he can only stretch the other leg then of course, but it’s actually easier as when lying straight, so it’s a good start. Happy training!

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      • Elizabeth Smith-Fries October 28, 2011 at 15:02 Log in to Reply

        Thank you for the link to Busting the Myths. This was SO helpful for me.

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        • LoLaBu October 28, 2011 at 19:34 Log in to Reply

          Glad to hear that. It’s indeed more fun to train when you’re not under pressure to end it on a good note 🙂

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    • Deb Jones October 27, 2011 at 14:44 Log in to Reply

      Love the cats! Our cat also really enjoys learning tricks. I was thinking about signing him up for a future class.

      Deb

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      • LoLaBu October 27, 2011 at 20:53 Log in to Reply

        Wow, that would be something! We had a pig in a class before, but no cat yet! 🙂

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      • LoLaBu October 28, 2011 at 21:10 Log in to Reply

        Speaking of cats…

        Richie 4 months

        🙂

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        • Louise Hoelscher October 28, 2011 at 22:16 Log in to Reply

          That is awesome!! 🙂

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        • Kathy October 29, 2011 at 00:18 Log in to Reply

          Wow!!! That is just too cute!!! 🙂 Has Catalina seen this? Seems like her cat would love doing this along with Tibby! 🙂

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  7. Pascal HERMANN October 27, 2011 at 09:32 Log in to Reply

    Some new pictures of “fait la grenouille” : who take itself for a frog ?

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  8. Pascal HERMANN October 27, 2011 at 09:35 Log in to Reply

    and

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  9. Pascal HERMANN October 27, 2011 at 09:37 Log in to Reply

    Finally

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    • LoLaBu October 27, 2011 at 20:13 Log in to Reply

      Too funny! Garlic is even better in it as the frog itself! 🙂

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  10. Rina October 27, 2011 at 17:11 Log in to Reply

    Hi I’m pretty far with Tess and learning here the tricks. I’m filming it but have trouble putting it on the computer… Can I post them later on?

    In the beginning she put on paw on the target but now she slams the target with two paws, is this ok? I’m giving the two pas the command touch now, is this ok or does I have to say nothing?

    THE 4in is going well, had some trouble finding the right type of box, as my cattlepup is so over it that light ones flip al the time, she is so she can stand in à small bowl now.

    Can’t waith to load a movie and here what you’ll think.

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    • LoLaBu October 27, 2011 at 21:04 Log in to Reply

      Sure, you can post a video later! Sounds like your puppy is doing really well! It’s hard to find objects that won’t tip yes, especially as they’re getting smaller, so you can as well hold it with your hand. We’ll need both, two paws on a target and one paw on a target -- you can use something smaller for that one. And sure, as soon as she is offering the behaviour predictably, you can start naming it! Happy training!

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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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