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Puppy I lesson 6

Congratulations! You got till the last list!

1. add duration and distractions to heeling - try it in different environments, reward a lot there, but apart from that, start adding more duration, reward every couple of steps with a small reward first, then do a really long distance and big jackpot for it - then a couple of steps for a small reward and long distance for a great reward again - vary it a lot for them to be able to see the pattern that the longer there is no reward, the better!

2. pick up the object to hug it - if the dog can already hold an object independently, put it on the floor and see if he can solve the problem and pick it up with a muzzle to get a hold of it with a paw

3. get a ball for kids, hold it with your feet so that it doesn't move too much at first and click for front legs on - then release your feet a little bit so that it starts to move and the dog needs to balance on it. Now click for little steps on the ball, the final goal is the dog walking ahead with hind feet on the ground and front feet rolling the ball. Great for balance and coordination and for getting used to objects moving under the feet.

4. "sit up" to "stand up" and back and "down" to "sit up" and back - great for strength in the back, especially important for those who will be doing agility. Down to sit up and back should go easy, use a hand signal together with your verbal cues. First, reward even if the dog goes into sit for a second, but then try to get rid of it and go for direct transitions from one position to another. Sit up to stand up is easy too, you can use a lure for that one. Going back to sit up (without falling in sit first) is hard, so offer your hand as a support so that the dog can lean on it and then click for any knee bending until actually going into sit up. This is conditioning exercise, so you can help some more with lures if necessary, but as always - don't do it so much that the dog would be sore after, you need to build muscle and balance gradually.

5. another great warming up exercise to stretch the dog before the run: spins to left&right and figure 8 forward. I teach it with a nose touch, putting a hand for a nose touch on the right spot (somewhere at the dog's hip) to get a spin, then getting more&more spins in the same direction in a row, fading the hand and putting it on verbal cue left &right - very useful also on a course! I also do figure 8 forward with a nose touch, putting a hand so that the dog comes between the legs, rewarding at the side and then again the other direction. Fade the hand then into hand signal and then completely, using just a verbal cue. I simply use cik&cap.

And yes, sure, that nose targeting is almost as luring and if you wanted, you can also shape it instead. I will sometimes lure as sometimes, it is the easiest way to the goal. I never lure with a puppy because I want them to understand the concept of shaping first because many things simply can’t be taught by luring, so at one point, you need a dog who will offer behaviors. If you always help with easy tricks and then count on simply going to shaping when needed, you’ll get in trouble. But I don't have a problem with going the other way around: first only shape, but later on do some luring or targeting when teaching something like figure 8, spins or sit up to stand up.

6. limping: click for one paw in the air (front or rear, whatever you prefer), add a little bit duration and then start clicking for any movements or weight shift of other 3 legs. Shape towards a real step and slowly add more&more to get limping on front/rear foot.

You again have 2 weeks to work on those exercises and post videos to comment and give suggestions for improvements. After those 2 weeks, your very last assignment before graduating puppy class is to make a video of everything you learned in this class - so don't post training sessions as such, but finished version of tricks, some breakthrough moments, some playing, city walking and everything else you did with your dog for this class (using what you already taped or taping some more). If you allow, I will then publish your videos on my website. Those videos will be your graduation work, you will get a "LoLaBuLand puppy class graduate" certificate and as a gift, a download link to a training DVD of your choice (see the training videos website to choose one).

For everybody asking for "advanced puppy class" - I will try to think of a good program as it was so cool to work with you that I would sure love to see some more of your dogs in the future 🙂 But I think that won't be doable before autumn, so the plan is to hopefully open advanced tricks class in September or October. Another option is Agility Foundation class that will start end of June - I will put a description on my website soon.


264 Comments

  1. Nancy May 23, 2011 at 20:28 Log in to Reply

    Camilla--Wow! That was simply amazing. I also loved visiting your beach in Austraila. It’s so neat how we get to travel around the world in all these videos. It’s crazy how we’ve all shared our homes, yards, and favorite walking spots through puppy class. Can’t wait to join everyone in foundations with Sylvia as our leader.

    Nancy and Nero

    • LoLaBu May 23, 2011 at 22:20 Log in to Reply

      I agree, it was very interesting to have such a mixed group, from so many places, with so many breeds! Have to love internet, I think those long-distance classes actually work much better as seminars as there, there can always be some misunderstanding or one simply gets stuck somewhere and doesn’t know how to proceed -- and with those classes, I can supervise the whole process 🙂 -- Not that you would need me very much though 🙂 -- you all did great!!!

    • camilla May 26, 2011 at 11:49 Log in to Reply

      Hi Nancy
      I’m glad you enjoyed the beach trip! You were visiting the victorian surf coast, about 2km from the famous Bell’s beach. Unfortunately that vid didn’t come close to doing justice to how beautiful it is 🙂 You’ll have to visit one day
      The beach is called south side and for some reason noone knows about it -- it is only ever surfers and dog people. Pretty cute, all the surfer’s dogs lie on the beach diligently waiting for their owners and watching them catch the waves
      Yeah, i have loved getting to travel all over the world each wk and felt priviledged to be ‘invited’ into everybody’s loungerooms 🙂
      🙂

      • Jennifer May 26, 2011 at 12:51 Log in to Reply

        Camilla, that sounds like a wonderful beach! Here in Florida they don’t allow dogs on the beaches. In Oregon and out West you can take your dog anywhere with you. Time to move back West 🙂

        • camilla May 27, 2011 at 01:04 Log in to Reply

          How rude not letting dogs on the beach!! They have that rule here in summer during the day but i always ignore it bc i think it is a ridiculous rule. It’s great at southside bc the rangers never come down to the beach (they are too lazy bc it is a steep walk). Tourists don’t usually go there in summer either -- just the nudists ( the nudists love to walk along the beach at full speed, pretty funny)

          • Jennifer May 27, 2011 at 11:20 Log in to Reply

            The beaches are flat here, so easily accessible for beach patrols, and they give you a pretty steep ticket. The loggerhead turtles come here to nest too, and they don’t want dogs digging up the nests.

  2. Eva May 24, 2011 at 11:59 Log in to Reply

    Silvia,
    Are you still having your gmail account? I sent you an email yesterday about needing your bank details to transfer the money for the foundations class as my paypal account has expired…my email is mevamillan@gmail.com

    • LoLaBu May 24, 2011 at 13:43 Log in to Reply

      Yes, sorry, I got the mail, but answering all the comments takes me so much time I got really bad at answering my mail! Anyway, here it is if anybody else needs it:

      Silvia Trkman sp, Dobravica pri Velikem Gabru 9, 8213 Veliki Gaber, Slovenija, SI29996309
      IBAN: SI56 1010 0004 8510 374
      SWIFT (BIC): BAKOSI2X
      Address of the bank: Banka Koper d.d., Pristaniska ulica 14, 6000 Koper, Slovenia

      • Eva May 24, 2011 at 13:46 Log in to Reply

        Got it thank you 🙂

      • Eva May 26, 2011 at 12:14 Log in to Reply

        Silvia,
        I have just transferred the money:
        Beneficiary Name Silvia Trkman
        Currency of Payment Euro
        Exchange Rate 1.0000
        Total in Currency of Payment* 140.00
        Bank of Ireland Charge € 0.00
        Total to be debited from your account € 140.00
        Reason for Payment Foundations Class Darwin and Eva
        Message to Beneficiary Foundations Class Darwin and Eva

        It will take a couple of days…

  3. Jennifer May 24, 2011 at 15:21 Log in to Reply

    We were practicing recall this morning and it’s going much better. I do this about 5 or 6 times on walks, on and off leash.
    turn down your volume 🙂 I use a high piercing voice for recall, and my husband always asks me not to do that when he is standing right next to me, it hurts his ears 🙂

    So I guess we get started on our final video…

    recall on off leash walk

    • LoLaBu May 24, 2011 at 16:11 Log in to Reply

      Looks great -- fast and happy! 🙂

  4. Eva May 25, 2011 at 10:51 Log in to Reply

    Morning here we go with a couple of videos more..
    1-Heeling with distractions
    2-Where we are with Kep&Kip (cip&cap)

    heeling2

    kep kip

    • Eva May 25, 2011 at 11:16 Log in to Reply
      pupurritricks

      • LoLaBu May 25, 2011 at 15:15 Log in to Reply

        I see your other dog wants to join the class too! 🙂 Ball rolling and heeling is going great, I see he likes cik&cap a lot too! 🙂 That’s a good start of limping but yes, that trick can take a while, unlike figure 8 backwards that is easier as it looks like, limping is actually more difficult as it looks like 🙂

    • LoLaBu May 25, 2011 at 15:11 Log in to Reply

      Heeling looks great!!! With cik&cap, still not good placement of the reward, I was meaning rewarding at 12 after he does the whole circle, not before he actually completes the circle! Maybe you can simply focus on multi wraps for now, select for tightness and reward close to the pole until the Foundations start, I will post a video there to make it clearer how to reward. Or, don’t you have cik&cap video? If you see the section where I’m restraining Bi before the tree -- I’m showing there where to throw the toy.

      • Eva May 25, 2011 at 16:11 Log in to Reply

        AHHHHHH!!!! OK, I understood wrong with the reward…! Anyway, I posted the video because I have problems with it!! He understands the concept of circling the pole but it seems that he cannot difference between right (kep) and left (kip)… He just circles because he knows that this is what I want but he doesnt discriminate the directions…
        Regarding the wraps..we do it with food indoors as he is too obsess with the ball to keep circling outside. He does fine till I change the direction again…

        • LoLaBu May 25, 2011 at 23:39 Log in to Reply

          It’s normal he can’t learn the direction that fast! At this point, the important thing is that he knows it’s about circling tight, don’t worry about the direction -- show it with your body language.

  5. camilla May 26, 2011 at 11:56 Log in to Reply

    In case anyone is interested, here’s our complete 1st session of learning to pick up the toy & hug
    I thought it might have been a bit misleading in my last vid bc i only included the second half of the session :-0

    • Nancy May 26, 2011 at 14:42 Log in to Reply

      Thanks Camilla, Now that Nero balances for more than 1/10 of a second your video reminds that I need to reward for duration on the “beg” now. It was amazing to see how hard Gracie had to work her core to stay balanced. I wonder what the equivalent exercise would be for us?

      Nancy

      • Jennifer May 26, 2011 at 14:57 Log in to Reply

        Thanks for posting, in the other one it just looked too easy 🙂

        Try doing the “Plank” for a couple of minutes, Nancy.
        I am also trying to add duration with jackpot, that’s working well.

      • camilla May 27, 2011 at 01:07 Log in to Reply

        Yes, unfortunately only one member of this team has been working on her core strength over the past 3 months. Grace puts me to shame!

    • LoLaBu May 26, 2011 at 18:28 Log in to Reply

      Well, she sure got the idea right away! What a smart dog!

    • Jonina May 28, 2011 at 22:44 Log in to Reply

      Go Grace! I’m a big fan of her! 😀

  6. camilla May 28, 2011 at 02:15 Log in to Reply

    This was just too funny, i had to share it.
    In my lunchbreak yesterday, I saw this guy walking his alpaca down the main street… made my day 🙂

  7. susanne May 29, 2011 at 09:56 Log in to Reply

    I realised that we are a bit behind, bc I sometimes didn’t read the instructions completely. I wondered why Alice did the spins in a relative big circle and not jumped round, until I read how to start. Now she does spins in both directions, bend like a banana. I am so fascinated, that a did a few days a lot of training sessions only spins right and left. I don’t think, that anybody here, who does spins with his dog, teached it in this way, with nose touch on the hip. This are the little steps Alice needs to work correctly, and she loves to work correctly. This makes her more self assured.
    I always tried to name when she is running with high speed an fun. In the beginning she always stopped running immediately and came to me for a reward, now I can say “vor, vor, vor” she is not stopping but sometimes she comes back in the same speed, and in a very good mood, to get the reward. This makes me very happy.
    Two legged tricks work with Alice quite fine, with Feline I started with side legs on a board that I met a little angular to make it easier for her. She offers me sometimes a hind leg on the board and the diagonal front leg. Perhaps the balance is easier like this. Limping doesn’t work quite good. Feline does one or two little steps, with one front leg in the air, Alice with a hind leg, but both have no duration until now.
    Heeling works great with both dogs, but Alice always looks at the ground when we do a turn to the right. I don’t know how to keep her head high when we do this turn.
    Situp to down and reversed we didn’t start until now, bc I missed again to read the instruction completely *gg*, but I will start with it now….

    • LoLaBu May 29, 2011 at 15:17 Log in to Reply

      If turns to the right are a problem, try rewarding as soon as you start it, even before she looks down. Do it that long that she starts to expect a reward on right turns and keeps the head up in the anticipation: and then slowly start delaying click&reward until you only reward after the turn. I would go for side legs only first, focusing on getting her lift them at once -- if she is never sure which front leg comes with that hind leg, then it will be harder to get simultaneous lifts, that7s why.

      • susanne June 2, 2011 at 10:35 Log in to Reply

        this works fine, thank you for the tipp :). I have an other problem too; when I train in the flat, I have bright flat ground and two dark carpets (mud flaps). When I do heeling with Alice she is always irritated when we reach one of these carpets. She looses concetration on me, looks down on the ground and when we have passed the carpet she reaches her concetration back. I thought this would be great for training with distractions, and click before we reach the carpet, and then click for each step on the carpet with high head until we have passed it. I fear now that Alice comes into a anxiety state that would be contraproductive for the whole heeling process. She passes the carpet with her tail between her hind legs, and I think she is very happy when its over. I don’t know the reason, and I don’t know how to get away from this behaviour. I would be happy for every idea?

        • LoLaBu June 2, 2011 at 14:17 Log in to Reply

          Well, I wouldn’t do heeling there then if it makes her uncomfortable… For now, just play there and do some other tricks and only work on heeling where she is happy about it.

  8. Eva May 30, 2011 at 10:48 Log in to Reply

    Silvia,
    Did you receive my payment?
    I transferred on the 26th…Let me know if you didnt get it.

    Eva.

    • Eva May 30, 2011 at 10:49 Log in to Reply

      Beneficiary Name Silvia Trkman
      Currency of Payment Euro
      Exchange Rate 1.0000
      Total in Currency of Payment* 140.00
      Bank of Ireland Charge € 0.00
      Total to be debited from your account € 140.00
      Reason for Payment Foundations Class Darwin and Eva
      Message to Beneficiary Foundations Class Darwin and Eva

    • LoLaBu May 30, 2011 at 13:52 Log in to Reply

      I didn’t get it yet, it sometimes take a while. I gave you an access to the classroom already, though, so you should be able to access it -- let me know if there are problems.

      • Eva May 30, 2011 at 15:09 Log in to Reply

        Silvia,

        I will wait till tomorrow and see if the money goes through otherwise I will call to my bank first thing in the morning. It shouldn’t take more than three days…

        Thank you for the access.

  9. Eva May 31, 2011 at 11:19 Log in to Reply

    Silvia,

    I have just called to the bank and they told me that the transfer didnt go through on Thursday so I transfer the money again…(they assured me now that you will get the money in three working days )See below:

    31/05/2011 10:16

    Your request that the following be paid from:

    Current Account, Current Account
    to
    Beneficiary Name: Silvia Trkman
    Currency of Payment: Euro
    Exchange Rate: 1.00
    Total in Currency of Payment: 140.00
    Bank of Ireland Charge: € 0.00
    Total debited from your account: € 140.00
    Reason for payment: Foundations Class Darwin and Eva
    Message to Beneficiary: Foundations Class Darwin and Eva
    Foundations Class Darwin and Eva
    Foundations Class Darwin and Eva

    is confirmed.

    Important -- Please note your balance may not up-date immediately

    Please note it may take up to 3 working days for this transaction to reach the beneficiary’s bank.

    If you have a query concerning this transaction please contact Bank of Ireland 365 online on
    From Republic of Ireland: 1890 365 200
    From Northern Ireland: 0845 7 365 555
    From Great Britain: 0845 7 365 333
    Outside these locations: +353 1 404 4470

    • LoLaBu May 31, 2011 at 12:04 Log in to Reply

      Oh, Eva, don’t worry, it will come -- it sometimes takes longer, but it always gets here, so don’t worry about it!

  10. Dinah and Bronagh June 1, 2011 at 04:29 Log in to Reply

    I am not happy yet with our progress with these two… I’d really like to get them a little bit further along before we post our graduation video… so any suggestions???

    also is it ok if we don’t post our graduation video for another week… or two? we are really busy right now, but are continuing to catch up

    Is it still ok to post work-in-progress classroom videos?

    two tricks in progress

    • LoLaBu June 1, 2011 at 13:40 Log in to Reply

      Well, I would work on a hug with one leg first, so that you can focus on one thing at the time -- just the hug instead of sit up duration. It’s very easy to put the two together after you master both separately -- and it’s impossible to work on both at the same time. Stand up to sit up is VERY difficult trick, especially for such a big dog, so I think she is actually doing great! I think she was just getting tired on video, you don’t really want to do more as a few repetitions of a sit up per day -- another reason to practice a hug with one leg only 🙂 Try again when she is well rested, help her with a hand and reward any bending of the knees.


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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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