I miss videos from some participants... I hope you're still posting it, it really doesn't matter if you're not finished with the trick just yet, you can always do that later, but it's good to have some directions, that's why I would like to see everybody's videos!
But well, it's time for a new to-do list:
1. see in what situations your dog gets really crazy and exited or runs as mad and name it
2. make the front feet target lower&lower and smaller&smaller and then fade it completely, still circling away from the dog and have him follow your leg. Then, add movements to the side, forward and backward and reward your dog for being glued to the leg
3. side version of 2on2off: try to get side legs (the two left or the two right legs) on an object. The easiest is to choose an object that is angled (I put a pillow under the angle against the sofa or a wall), so that the dog can't climb on it with all 4 feet. Because of 2on2off, they will probably try hind feet on, but position yourself next to an object so that the dog is parallel to it and will probably first try just one hind foot (it helps if you have a pee trick down already!): reward a couple of times so that he keeps it there as opposed to try to put the other hind leg on too and then see if you can get front foot on too. You can tell them to paw touch your hand that you keep close to an object and eventually fade the hand to have both feet on an object. Jackpot if the dog puts both feet on at the same time (vs. first hind, then front). Do it with both sides right from the start, you want to build muscle and balance on both sides.
4. one object into another: shape the dog to pick up an object, then to carry it around, then to carry it in the direction of another object, then to let it go close to it and eventually to actually put it in another object. I usually start directly with two bowls of the same size, but to make it easier, you can also use a toy and a box or something similar. Do try it with a bowl too, though, they require more precision.
5. I see many started that already, seeing the video I posted on the website - those that didn't, start with hug the pole/umbrella trick, first clicking for any paw touch, then for sliding to the side and then for going more&more around the object, the final goal is a firm hug with one or both front feet around the object - see this video
6. stays with distractions: tell the dog to sit or down and continue with proofing the stay until the release word as we were discussing in 2on2off case in the last lesson: have them stay in a position with you running passed them, throwing toys and treats, making different hand gestures etc. - then say "go" (sometimes standing still, sometimes while moving) and reward, preferably with a toy as you want a fast start out of the position on "go"
Hi,
We didn’t do anything during last 3 weeks. So we are much behind. Here is something I taped today.
Heeling on left side is quite good but we need to work with right side. He thinks that my foot is a paw target 🙂
He knew before to put a spoon to bowl. On this video we use first time other objects too. I haven’t try with bowls.
With hand stand the object is a little bit too high and I’m planning to use something else. On this video I just test what he would try. When he got the idea of backing up on object he started to offer it also when going backwards. He started to pick his hind feet up when going backwards.
We need to start the other tricks too.
Very cute, fast and enthusiastic! 🙂 Great cavaletti and heeling! He is too funny with that left paw on your foot! Great handstand beginning and very nice into a bowl trick! You have plenty of time for other tricks now, we’re taking this week off as I have workshops here.
That looks great@! Grace does exactly the same thing w targeting my foot. Pretty cute 🙂
Great job!! Jin also does the same thing!! (Targeting my foot) 😀
Hello,
I know we are supposed to be on holidays… but I am a little bit behind the subject because the last two weeks we have been training little to nothing, so I decided to post how we are doing so far:
1- The heeling is work in progress, good on the left side (at the beginning was better to the right…!!) but kind of stuck in the right side now, he keeps the distance to my right leg for some reason…we are widener the circles but some how he is still not “gluing”…I think that he hasn’t made the connection yet!
2-Side legs, at the beginning was very difficult to make him understand that it was only the side legs not the 2on2off, so I had to use different targets till we had a breakthrough with the treadmill…now he can lift his side legs (right or left)no problem, next step is fade the target…UFF!!!
3-The handstand, He does it on cue, and we do it in different locations with different targets, like very thin trees and poles but when the targets are very small he just lean on one leg…Picture coming..Is so funny…! the other leg is hanging up… so I dont know how to fade up the target I suppose it will come with time!
4-Put a bowl into another one, This one is no way….! If I place a bowl he thinks he has to put 4 in or circle it! if I put a box he thinks he has to sit inside…with the other object in his mouth…The biggest improvement so far is stepping only with two legs (front paws)inside the box and drop the object inside…but he has to be inside too….our cue for this is “tide up”
5-Hold, He kind of knew this one before…. but he holds the bottle only with one paw, he is still no able to hold the object without leaning on it! Video coming soon as well…
6-Running crazy…!! No problem with that one!!! as long as there is a ball on sight!!!!
Side legs sure look great! Time to do it against the wall and then an empty object like a chair! For hand-stand, he is not yet balanced enough, you need to reward closer to the wall so that he is completely vertical. Then try to click when he pushes up, if he pushes up with both legs vs. climb. You can work on hold with one paw, you don’t need two. For putting bowl one into another, you can maybe try with putting them to a drawer? Or even ON a chair, just to make it look like a completely new exercise and not confuse him with 4in? The heeling could be more precise, you often click when he is far from perfect position (like at 0:50, 1:33, 1:35) -- that can be confusing. It’s better to go slower, maybe still work on a target, but really only click when he is completely parallel, without that rear end swinging out. Don’t do another step until he is completely parallel -- reward for perfect position, then move one step, wait for perfect position again etc. -- otherwise you are just rehearsing his hind end swinging out.
Hi Silvia,
Thanks for the suggestions, I am going to take your advice and step back to the target again, although the last weekend seemed to have improved a little…
Hi everyone
Here is our homework so far
I didn’t manage to name this ‘crazy’ bc i was worried i would interrupt her. It was actually a pretty rare moment bc she usually hates going on the grass at home (It is really annoying bc i would like to do training w her on the grass at home but she seems to hate it -- i thinks she thinks it is only to be used as a toilet)
The heeling session is the first where we have managed to get good forward motion so i was pretty excited. It is only on the left bc i wanted her to understand what i want bf i try it on her weaker side. We will practice more and include in our nxt video when i post the hug trick (couldn’t fit them in one vid).
She is starting to hug the toy quite firmly but not really holding onto it when i let go
Hi Camilla,
Something wrong with the video, I cannot see it even in youtube (your channel…). When did you uploaded it?
By the way, good work with Glee, she is gorgeous!!! I hope she can find a good forever home!
Thanks Eva! Yeah, she’s doing really well. Training her 1st trick (to sit) was the biggest dog training challenge ever! It took me two weeks..but as soon as she learned that she quickly picked up about 6 other tricks in one day. When she first arrived she was showing a lot of fear aggression towards grace but now they are besties. I don’t think it will be too hard to find her a great home -- she is pretty cool. I think Grace will be sad when she goes
insted of copying the link in the “share” function at Youtube. Simply copy the url (http://) above the site with your video.
Youtube have some problems with the share function.
🙂
Thanks for your help! 3rd time lucky …
Great job! Ready for vertical object for side legs! And wow, definitely a really nice heeling! Great position, great rear end awareness, great head position -- really nice to see!
Hi!
I’m sorry I haven’t posted any videos yet. Our internet has been really slow or not working at all. I hope it’s going to be solved soon! I write from my work now.
Most of the tricks are going well. Heeling is a lot better on the left side, but we’ll just continue working some more on the right side. She hugs the pole really nicely, I thought I’d soon start trying letting her hold an object in a sit up position.
And if someone is interested, I have a really good and easy “game” for getting your dog to run full speed. At least it works really great for Nyx. I do it everytime we’re on our long walks (mostly on the beach, which is perfect for this) and she’s off leash. Whenever she gets a bit behind me, I wait until she starts running towards me, then I start running myself and when she runs full speed I repeat the cue I have chosen to use to send her forward in agility. Just before she has caught up with me, I throw a ball ahead of me. Nyx really loves this game. Now she’s even started to stop on purpose everytime I get in front of her, and just waits in a kind of “herding bc”-postition for me to start running. Makes me laugh every time! 🙂 I tried recording it but unfortunately it was really hard to get a good video of it, I didn’t have anyone who could tape it for me.
If I could get to a warm beach to tape that for you I would. We’ve had two blizzards this week and are back to 12cm of snow on the ground. Can’t wait to see your vids. Your pup looks pretty cute in the photo.
Nancy
Oh, no! We had over 20 degrees and nothing but sun the whole week of our camp! 🙂
Sounds fun! Le also does the herding BC position, I thought she learned from my BCs. It’s just too funny.
Hi! This is our video for sit-stay, heeling, sit up and hug.
As for sit-stay, the toy I used for distraction is a toy she usually plays with but it’s her less favourite one; we still have to raise criteria. For the sit up trick, she really can’t balance very well yet, and for the “hug” trick she still leans on the toy.
We played a lot during this weeks and we learned to tug and chase balls. Now she really likes it. I’ll show you next time.
Have fun and happy holidays!
Laura & Shape
Nice work! For a sit stay, try to use less front now (don’t face her that much) and slowly decrease the number of rewarding in a position to zero -- eventually, the release word to a toy is their only reward for a stay as that’s how their “real-life” agility stay will look like. When heeling, try to keep your hand behind her head as she might cue/lure from your hand otherwise. Her rear end sometimes swings out a little from that reason, I think she focuses on a hand too much. For a sit up, just add duration gradually. Meantime, you can work on independent hug in sit position (with one paw only).
Ok, thank you Silvia. 🙂
Ok, we need your help here. After your comment I realised I unwillingly conditioned her to stay focused on my hand. We were doing better before, but then I sometimes started to keep my hand in that position and now, it’s true, she looks at it too much. So much that when I keep it behind her head, she stays a little further away from me in order to watch where it is. Plus, my hand behind my back was the cue for the figure 8 backwards.
Should I go a few steps back to fix this? Any suggestion?
Yes, I would probably do some sessions on a target as you can get nice position with the help of target there and then click for looking up at you vs. your hand and then just go from there. I think it will be easy to get rid of it as that hand sneaked in only in last couple of weeks, I’m sure she actually knows the position without it too, it’s just too tempting to looks at that hand.
we were a little lazy this week, but yesterday we had agility training. Alice was quite good, not as fast and enthusiastic I would like her to be, but not as bad as well. Feline was great as ever. After training we showed our trainer some of the tricks we learned in this group. Our trainer was very astonished how good Alice is in tricks, and how well she is balanced. Her own dogs know as good as no tricks. Her opinion is, that her dogs have so much temperament, that it would be as good as impossible to teach them tricks. That Feline isn’t as good as Alice in tricks seams to support this assumption…….:)
Ha-ha 🙂 Well, you can tell your trainer that once her dogs have enough temperament to win World Championships twice and will be setting best times for 15 years, then I might stop laughing at her comments 🙂 I hope to see her on EO or WC one day, so that we can compare the times 🙂
Hi there Silvia can i ask a strange but needed question. How and where do you measure your dog for agilty ie small mediun large. Do you perhaps have a diagram and or web site to look at as i have tried to find 1 and cant. I would like to know how too correctly measure before i get my dog measured. Thanks kindly.
Position her next to the wall, put a horizontal pencil on her shoulder blades and make a mark on the wall and then measure that, that’s her height.
Great thanks will try that.
Hi Silvia and Everyone
Here is my half of Lesson 4 video.
I was wondering if you watched my Lesson 4-1 video?
I didn’t get any comment from you when I post and wondering if you saw it or just had nothing to say. (posted on April 13th)
I have been trying to have fun at play and since we added Que for running, it improved his running speed so much! (My self too!)
On this video, there are few tricks that are pretty far away from final product but we have been having a fun!
I think Niah is not yet balanced enough to do side legs up trick, but main focus is to let him understand all concept. But I need some advice how to improve our struggle!
Stacking Bawl trick: what is the best way to teach him to not pick up bawl too high and stack softly to another one?
Thank you
Emi & Niah
Oh, I’m sorry, I somehow missed your first video… I will watch it right after this one, thanks for telling me about it -- if I miss it, I never find it again if not warned about it…
That was too funny, when he showed you he doesn’t need your help with stacking bowls and put in to the one you didn’t expect! 🙂 I think you can indeed stop helping, I think it promotes throwing the bowl around vs. stacking them softly. When he knows better what it is about and does it more on purpose, he will learn that it’s more efficient to not throw them around. You are getting some really nice attempts already, so just jackpot those. For side legs, keep working on getting hind foot+front foot (in that order) until he starts to expect it and puts up both at the same time. Jackpot that and keep working on an object until you get him to constantly heave both -- then you’re ready to start fading it. To me, it looks like he just doesn’t understand the concept just yet, it doesn’t seem to be a coordination problem. And, I don’t hear you, but I guess you are releasing him before you start running in the go-go game, right? 🙂 And yes, he sure looks fast and enjoying the game!
That was very cool! I kept laughing out loud -- when did you get so fast!? Wow, he really loves playing with you now. Ps i love the way he throws the bowls around -- looks v theatrical 🙂