As you did such a great job with your first homework, you're getting some more this time 🙂 I again marked the ones to focus on first. Post wherever you end up, we learn the most through problems, so you want to post those too! 🙂 So try to view other students' videos and my comments to them too!
1. experiment with different toys and ways to play with your dog. Tape his favourite game to give some new ideas to other participants (and me!!!). From my dogs, Le LOVES to chase things on a string, especially squeaky toys, plastic bags and everything else that makes sound! La hates squeaky toys, but goes crazy for real fur and ladder. Bi loves tugging - on anything BUT real fur, she finds it really gross and won't touch it. - Not that I would be trying in that direction either, only extra durable toys can handle her bite! Bu doesn't care so much about what toy we use, but she definitely wants ME involved: running and making silly noises. She also loves when she has a toy and I'm pretending I want to steal it from her, but am afraid to do so.
2. instead of a plate, find something a little higher this time to give them a better feeling of where to keep their front legs, click first for two front feet on an object (should be easy, you want the same thing as on a plate) and then observe hind legs and click for ANY movement (even just a weight shift) and then shape from there for more&more steps around the object. I first click both directions and once I get half of a circle in both directions, start clicking one direction only and reward with a head away from me in order to get a full circle - turning the head away from you in the hardest part, that's why you want to reward with head away at this point. The final goal are full circles in both directions, with you static (don't help the dog to circle with your movement!) - I think those that have my heeling video can already do that exercise, though 🙂
3. take the plate and hold it in different positions to see if the dog understands it's the same thing even when you hold it higher, under the angle, even vertical, to his left/right etc. Try when he is standing, sitting and lying down. If you didn't name touching an object with a paw, it's time to do it now! Also, try to change objects for this exercise, sometimes also use a hand as a paw target. Once he can do all that, you're ready for next two tricks we will get out of the paw touch:
- crossing paws: tell the puppy to down (or shape it if he doesn't know it yet), then hold the plate (or, you can use another, smaller and more convenient object, like a plastic lid or a piece of paper) close to the left paw and only reward touching it with left paw. Then hold it closer and closer to right paw, still only reward left paw touches, then hold it on right paw and eventually on the other side, jackpoting the touches of left paw on a right paw now in order to eventually get rid of a target.
- sit up: tell the puppy to sit (or shape it if he doesn't know it yet), then put the plate (or just use the hand if he will recognize that as a target) low enough first that he can reach it with a paw, but then every next time, hold it a little higher - not that high that he would stand up, but high enough that the other leg leaves the ground a little bit too. Jackpot. AGAIN, don't do too much of this exercise, it's great for building muscle, but it can also make them sore if you do too many repetitions every day!
4. observe your puppy and try to find situations when he would back up - it usually happens when they're moving out of your way - or sometimes when you're working on ignoring the food in the hand. You can try to sit down on the floor with treats in your hand and click first step back with hind foot. Don't wait for more than one as they usually sit down then. Click&reward the first step and reward by throwing a treat towards the dog. Rewarding at distance (by tossing a treat instead of giving it from your hand) will help you add more&more steps and more&more distance from you. At one point, switch to rewarding with a toy, it's easier to throw.
5. 2on2off - find an object big enough for the dog to go on with all 4 feet easily - maybe just put your first 4in object upside down? - Click for 2-3 legs on and then don't click the fourth one, you don't want any duration standing there! Only click again when the dog is leaving the object, try to catch him with 2 front feet on the ground and deliver the treat while he is still in this position. You want them go on an object and off immediately, stopping with front feet on the ground. Click&reward several times for a position, then say "go"/"o.k."/"free"/whatever your release word will be and throw a treat away so that he needs to leave the position to get it and click for leaving an object too. Do this enough times that the dog starts to expect the thrown treat after "go", so that then you don't need to throw it in advance, but only after he leaves the position on "go". Do not help with body language that you want him to leave after "go" - if he doesn't know it yet, go back to throwing a treat and progress more slowly.
For circling how do I get movement in the other direction. Sammy does a very enthusiastic spin to the right but doesn’t go left at all. If stop clicking then he lies down with the pot between his paws and looks at me 🙂 Very cute but not quite what I want. Do I lure the other direction for a bit?
Did you try a target next to the wall, so that he can’t keep spinning to the right? When he gets to the wall, he will probably take a step or two back (even if only to then go right again) and you can then click and jackpot that and then build from there.
I tried putting Dash’s target next to the wall, but he was so keen to keep going clockwise that he actually did a “hand-stand” so he could keep pivoting the old way as he went past the wall. 🙂
I accidentally discovered something else to get Dash to pivot the “new” way. I lured him onto his target so that he was in front of me, but facing AWAY from me. I then fed his treat so his head was turned the correct direction. Then I stood up (no lure, no signals). Dash immediately started pivoting the “new” way so that he could face me (from the opposite side of the target). I was able to click and treat motion in the “new” direction. I set that up a few times, and once he started getting C/T’s for moving the new direction, he offered the behavior even without being faced away from me at first.
Great! That was a good idea! Despite handstand on a wall sounds lots of fun too! 🙂
Thanks Silvia. I will give that a try. And maybe also Sharon’s idea. 🙂
Here’s another video of Papu pivoting. This was filmed yesterday and today. We’ve made some progress as you can see, but I’m still not sure Papu understands that he should move sideways and not put all his feet on the bowl. Do you think we should try higher object?
Yeap, higher object should help to keep his feet on the floor. But you’re actually already getting really nice movement, so I think it won’t take long to get full circle, just keep rewarding with a head away -- maybe even more extremely as now.
I’m definitely no expert, but am getting 360’s in both directions, so I’ll offer a tip. After Dash offered lateral movement, I worked on only one direction. For several days, I ONLY clicked clockwise movement, until I got 360 degrees. Then I stopped clicking that direction for the past week, and am only clicking anti-clockwise movement.
When I see your video, I think Papu may guess “the trick is to take one step right (C/T), then one step left (C/T), but always face mom.” You might try only clicking one direction for a couple of days until you get a full circle, then move to the other side.
Yeap, at one point, you will need to stop clicking both directions. I usually wait until I get some more side movement though, but sure, you can try it already now.
Hi all,
at least a little progress with paw crossing…
For her, the most difficult part is remaining in a down position -- quite often, she jumps up as soon as the click comes. I now waited with rewarding until she lies down again -- as you can see she tries backing up and a frog 😉
Very cute! Try to slowly fade the hand target into a finger target 🙂 and click only for real crosses now to then fade a finger target next.
And some progress with “hands up” -- trying to fade the hand she tries to hold on to, but this provokes jumping sometimes…
What an amazing balance for such a young puppy! Getting there with fading a hand, she doesn’t seem to really lean on it (other than on last try), so I think it should be easy. Time to put it on a verbal cue too.
This is SUCH a cute puppy! Just love watching her work 🙂
Hello Verena,
I love your sweet puppy too. Such a great working drive. It’s very cool to see the great progress! 🙂
Greeting from Germany to Germany 😉
Thanks, I will pass it on to Bisou 🙂
Yes, she amazes me, too, she is very skillful for her age when it comes to jumping and balancing. My heart often stops beating when I see where she climbs up and jumps down before I can even inhale to call her off… we all know that we should keep a puppy from jumping up and down so much, but this is truly impossible with her, no matter how hard I try -- a tiny little monster.
Just for a smile: This was why I decided to sign her up to this class -- I was teaching the other 2 dogs to hide in the suitcase. Bisou was 3.5 months then and she was the one who picked it up after 2 sessions although I originally didn’t intend to teach her…
😀 she is fantastic!!! 😀
Oh, that was too cute! Makes me want a puppy really badly too! Bisou sure is something!
That was too cute. She is such a smart puppy
She is totally adorable!!!
Hi Silvia,
Ruby, my German Shepherd, will sit up with both her paws pretty high as soon as I tell her “paws.” However, she leans heavily on my hands……she is not balancing herself yet. What should I do next?
Amelie
Try holding a hand so that she can’t lean on it too much (see Verena’s video) + click&reward when you feel she is leaning a little bit less. It’s a difficult one for big dogs though so it might take a while before she can hold it on her own, keep the progress very gradually.
I have a problem with paw touches: how do I make Papu to understand that it’s ok to sit or lie down when touching the target? If I ask him to sit/go down and show the target he immediately gets up before touching it. I’ve tried to present the target from different angles while he’s standing and he can manage that. But we’re getting nowhere with sitting/lying down -- he really seems to think he has to be standing when touching the target.
It’s often a problem with a down, but usually not when in a sit -- and once they master it in a sit, it gets easier in a down position too. So try sit first, offer a target (reach in very quickly with it so that he doesn’t feel the need to approach it), but move it away if he stands up and ask for a sit again. I think that after three or four times you ask for a sit, he will find it easier to just remain seated… -- let me know if not so that we can try to think of something else.
Oh, I’m so happy we’ll have a catch-up break! I feel Papu and I are lagging behind already! Thanks for the extra time! 🙂
What break? Did I miss something?
Yeap, see lesson 3 🙂
I know, it’s not easy to keep up with the program at all! That’s why we always do this two-week break, it’s never good to hurry things too much!
Silvia, I have a play-related question. I plan to train agility using a ball for reinforcement, but he needs to retrieve it to me quickly.
When I got Dash at 5 1/2 months old, he delivered fetch toys to my hand. Now he is 8 months old, and he comes to me, but when I reach for the toy, he moves out of reach and “teases” me.
I never chase him, but do verbally encourage him to come back. He’ll then repeat it: come to me, “almost” give me the ball, then move out of reach. After a minute or two of this, he will finally allow me to take the toy and throw it. I think he finds the teasing and my encouragement more reinforcing than me actually throwing the toy. 🙁
I could easily train Dash to put the ball in my hand using food treats, but doing this with my other dog ruined his love of playing. It only became a “chore” that he did to earn food. With Dash, I train with food and toys in each session, but I don’t want to mix them: I don’t want to use food to reinforce toy play.
How can I teach him to actually GIVE me the toy instead of teasing me and running away? When I used to train with compulsion, I just put on a long line, and forced the dog to come to me with the toy, or used it to hold him while I removed the toy and put it out of reach (-P). However, I’m hoping to train this in a positive way, using “continuing the game” as reinforcement. Any suggestions?
Did you try the suggestions we were discussing with Kathy, Ana and Louise? I would try those, first using a tug toy and try to have him see bringing it back to hand to tug more is fun and then switch to a ball on a string so that you can tug with that too. If he moves away with it, try not to encourage him to come, but just turn away and try again later.
Hi Silvia, I´m posting 2 videos, first one is Astro playing and you can see how bad he is retreiving the toy, we are working in room and he is good inside, today I wanted to try outside.
The second one is his first session backing up, with paw target I´m a little stucked, What can I do?
thanks
For a retrieve, keep working on it inside and put it on a verbal cue before trying outside. When playing outside, for now either use tug toys or several of identical balls that he will like the same and don’t worry about the retrieve, just throw the next one when he gets close to you.
Nice job with backing up, try tossing treats to him to then add even more distance. Paw crosses can be hard with such an active puppies yes, maybe try it when she is somewhat tired 🙂 and next to the wall, so that he can’t move so much. You could also try in sit position first, maybe it will be easier as he can’t move the other paw then.
Hello Silvia,
I need help with pivoting!!! Trono was doing the pivot very nice in one direction so I decided to teach him the other direction… He learned it very well but now he totally forgot the first direction he learned (he only turns in the last direction he learned….)
do you understand what I’m trying to say?