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.
No problems uploading with my phone, it’s only very short; it gives you an inpression though;
Cool, she is really good with her 4in! Try rewarding in a position now, while she is standing in a bowl, to add even more duration and work on balance -- despite she looks pretty well balanced already! 🙂 And then it’s time for a smaller bowl!
And here’s a real short one with the target: hope to pit in some beter video’s real soon.
Great! Looks ready for the next lesson! 🙂
Hi, I tried to let Wanda stretch her legs on the floor but I didn’t reach that goal
Great, what a nice video, really well shown progress from the first step on! Great job with Wanda, very nice paw touches and very impressive 4in, what a great balance! The frog looks great on that pillow too, you can try it on a folded blanket next and then slowly unfold it until she can do it on the floor too. You can also make food ignorance even harder now by putting the treats on the floor. Great job!
Hi Silvia & classmates,
Here is our 2nd video for lesson 1. I tried to video a few recalls in the woods. Silvia, I think I remember reading somewhere in one of your classes that you do a lot of walking in the woods with recalls when your puppies are young so that they get conditioned to come to you & not chase wildlife. Am I remembering this correctly? Chasing deer & squirrels has been a problem with Elsa (my rescue dog) & I learned the hard way (6 hours trying to find her after she took off after deer 🙁 ) that I can’t let her off leash in the woods to practice “the chase”. It’s very sad & I don’t want this to be a problem with Zephyr. We walk in the woods every day & do several recalls during our walks, a few tricks, explore & have fun. So far he loves checking back with me on our walks & doesn’t go too far. And he doesn’t seem to motion sensitive but does that change as a BC gets older? Is there any advise you can pass on about what else I should be doing? Thanks.
Also taped paw targets & our first attempts at the frog. I think he’s getting there. 🙂 How do they look to you?
Thanks!
Wow, what a beautiful beautiful place for walks! You definitely want to keep the recalls good enough that he can run off leash in that woods! 🙂 And yes, I don’t do anything specific about not-chasing as calling them in regularly, rewarding it a lot and playing in between. I also take them to places where they can see some uninteresting domestic animals, not moving around too much, to teach them to ignore that too. Of course, I trained them that well that when we tried herding with Bu and Bi, they ignored the sheep completely 🙂 The important thing is that they never get a chance to chase and that you can recall if they ever show any interest in it: if he never discovers the beauties of chasing, he will be fine.
The tricks are going great too, very nice paw touches and yes, certainly getting there with the frog!
Thanks, Silvia! Yeah, the island has many beautiful places for walking, but today is the last day for walking in the woods as deer hunting season starts tomorrow 🙁 Guess we’ll be walking along the shore for the next month. 🙂
When you took your puppies to see domestic animals, did you reward for ignoring these animals (as in “ignore the toy”) or did you just get their focus with tricks, recalls, etc., which got them used to giving you more attention then the animals? Given the choice, I would rather have Zephyr ignore all animals (even sheep) & not chase than to be a good herder. 🙂 I guess it’s more important to me to have a hiking companion that I trust around wildlife! I think he may be off to a good start--I took him to a herding clinic for some socialization last weekend & he wasn’t impressed at all by the sheep--even fell asleep next to the fence while they were giving demonstrations! 🙂
Thanks!
I’m really intrested in hearing the reply as well. And where do you go to find animals to train around? I live in a city and don’t have many horses, sheep etc around. Also, would you train the same way with a dog who loves other dogs and wants to run and play with them?
Well, we do lots of hiking so we always meet some cows, horses and sheep -- so by now, I already know where to find them 🙂 I actually also take my puppies to the ZOO, it’s a nice socialization place with animals, noises, kids and crowds around. And yes, they’re around other dogs A LOT too, mostly around adult dogs who are totally uninterested in them (agility trials every weekend), so that helps a lot with making other dogs uninteresting too.
I’m sure he could do both, I have many friends who do herding, but their BCs don’t chase at all. But I only tried when they were 3 and 5 years and they ignored them completely. I never shaped looking away, just kept them busy and rewarding for keeping their focus on me. The same at trials, with other dogs running agility -- it’s so much nicer to get to the start if the dog is not lunging at dogs that are running! Mine were around agility rings since little puppies and luckily never showed any interest. -- O.k., only Bi has a thing for barking Croatian Sheepdogs, but she knows to lie down and watch calmly. She might not herd sheep, but she is obsessed by herding Croatian Sheepdogs… Not lunging though.
Here our first training session of the trick frog. I will call it “Frosch” later.
I find it’s very difficult to see the hind legs. On the video I can see it better ;-). At the moment Page strech the hind legs more like a seal and not like a frog.
I’m nosy what you say to the first try :-).
That’s a good start! And yes, you actually do want a seal, not a frog, so you’re on a good way, that last stretch was really great!
I have a question. Page know the paw touch from the agility training. I train the contacts 2on2off with a target and the cue “touch”. Should I use the same cue here? Or is it better to use a new command? I think it could be a conflict. What do you think?
You mean you teach 2on2off with a front paw target??? If so, then you could use the same cue yes.
Yes I teach it so for 2on2off. I tried it with the same cue, but I have the sense that Page sometimes want to stay on the target and not only touch it.
Good evening fellow students and Silvia!
Here is my first video of Secret’s lesson #1. I am not used to using the clicker so I feel like my timing is not very good. Please excuse the barking of the other 3 dogs. My house is always like this. They all love to work except for Secret and bark constantly when someone gets their turn.
I feel like maybe I am luring too much on the “frog” trick. I feel like I am clicking perhaps too much, but I was trying Silvia’s advice about clicking more instead of less because Secret does not yet understand the shaping game. So I am clicking lots of what I consider unsuccessful attempts because I am trying to keep her interested and willing.
She is jumping into the bigger box with all four feet now on the verbal cue (no video of the bigger box). I haven’t added the verbal cue (4in) to the smaller box because she is not yet understanding to put all four feet in. It is like when there are all four feet in it might be an accident. Do I need to find a box that is bigger than the box in the video? Or do I persevere with this size box?
I am not happy with the paw touch because my bowl thing moves around too much. I wish that it would stay stationary. I am afraid that she thinks that the point is to move it around. I don’t think she understands what I am asking to do yet. Any advice on how to make this better?
Thanks so much for watching. I look forward to hearing your comments!
She looks interested and happy to work to me! I think that was a very good rate of reinforcement, no problem if you rewarded some more -- that’s always better as not enough 🙂 Keeping it fun and intense should be your major focus for now, tricks will come too. You actually already got some nice stretching, so just keep working like that. She seems to be doing great with that box too, I don’t think you need a bigger one, just try to help less with your hands as watching your hands make it extra hard for her to get in. Maybe you can try sitting down, so that her head would be lower and she could pay more attention to the box vs. your hands? For a paw touch, something flat might be better as it won’t be so easy to move and you will get more of real touches/stepping on. If you every catch her shutting down moment on camera, post that too, I would like to see it as she sure looks like a very happy worker on this video.
Thank you for writing such a good description of your training and challenges, I can really relate to it. I learned a lot from your question, video and Silvia’s answer.
Here’s a second video of Lance. He’s still doing great with the paw touches but not so good with Frog and four paws in the box. Any ideas to help us getting moving forward?
I love this dog!!!! His tail is always wagging. What a happy boy!
Wow, those are sure extra cute paw touches! 🙂 I think the frog is going well too, you’re getting some stretching already, so just continue like that. Great progress with 4in too, he doesn’t seem uncomfortable with the box at all anymore, but well, you will need to do some more sessions on a bigger box, until he is reliably offering 4in there. Then you can try somewhat smaller one, but I think not as small as the second one you’re using: try to find something in beteween the two sizes.
Great, Vera is sure doing great! Loved how nicely she switches from food to a toy and back, she sure looks very happy with whatever she gets 🙂 Great 4in, looks ready for the next size! And well, we’ll need two paws on a target too, so it’s good she can do both! How is frog going?
A good idea to switch from food to a toy and back. I will try it !
Above are Vera and me working on two of the skills, getting in a box and targeting with paws. It is going really well. The one problem we are running into is her wanting to put two paws on the target (as we worked on heeling with a pedestal for a bunch). But, she seems to be doing much better. We are having a lot of fun.
Heres Buzz doing paw on the plate, though it’s a bowl coz I have no small plate I’m willing to use with him coz he keeps trying to scratch it and pick it up in his mouth! We’ve got your heeling dvd so he knows circling it is part of the game! But he does it mostly with one paw in this session as you’ll see! This is the first time using the bowl, by the end he’s putting his paw on without trying to scratch it and move it which is what he normally does. I’m trying to get him to put both paws on when I cue both, he does it no worries on bigger objects but I think the bowl was a bit small for both his big paws!
Great job! He sure knows the circling well, that was too funny! Love his enthusiasm!