As you did so good with your first homework, you're getting some more this time 🙂 No worries if you don't manage to do everything in 2 weeks, you can always come back to those tricks. Post wherever you end up, as I said, we learn the most through problems, so you want to post those too! 🙂
1. experiment with different toys and ways to play with your dog. Tape his favourite game.
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 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 to more&more steps around the object. The final version of this trick is full circle around, 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 angle 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 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.
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 they really want something, but know they can't get it. 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 one and reward by throwing a treat towards the dog. Rewarding at distance 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 a 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. 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. 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.
And I guess this really is enough fun for next 2 weeks! 🙂
Hi!
Now I’ve finally been able to record. The charger to the cam corder was mysteriously lost, but now it’s back and here are the videos of the tricks I’ve had time to record so far.
I haven’t got as far with the other tricks, but I’ll upload a video tomorrow of them anyway to show you where we’re at.
And a question about the sit up-trick. Are dogs fysically able to hold that position for a while right away, or they usually need to work up their balance before they can? I think Nyx looks out of balance after a short time in the position, but I don’t know if it has to do with the balance or the fact that she just doesn’t know that she’s supposed to hold still in the position yet.
Wow, very good! That’s actually already a very good duration for a sit up trick, but yes, it is a question of training, building muscle to be able to hold it longer and finding the balance, so it takes time before they can hold it longer. It’s hard at the beginning, so you shouldn’t overdo this trick, meaning that you need to stop the session as soon as you see the dog is finding it harder as at the beginning of the session. You don’t want to make them sore!
Here is our video for the second lesson. I did not manage to upload the first lesson as I had problems with my video camera 🙁
The order of the video is -- Playing -- Circling with back legs -- Crossing paws -- Sitting up -- Walking backwards -- Back feet on a box.
I had problems with circling a box. Ecko goes one way well but struggles going in the opposite direction. I was very pleased with her crossing paws and sitting up but watching the video made me realise that I need better timing with my clicks -- too slow!
I hope this upload works!
Great job! Very cute sit up and great back up! Is catching treats her favourite game? She doesn’t like toys so much? To make her circling more fluent, let her do some full circles -- meaning get out of her way and don’t reward for few steps anymore, but only for a full circle, then try to also do two or three in the same direction. You can work one direction only one session and the other only in another session. Also, with 2on2off, try the other direction too: not just backing up, but also going on and off the object, stopping in the position.
Hi there well for lesson 2 it is going well. Heeling, doing well on both sides and we work litter bits often in different places.Still working on paw crossing to now get it on verbal but does it nicely too my hand so far. The sit up is cool have that now on verbal, will post a photo. Back up, she finds it a cool game and we can get quite far now at least 15m. sometimes i just do short and sometimes longer. The 2o2o we have the position and release her, so now working on duration. i guess this one will take some time as we have done no 2o2o at all. We also play lots and have tried some of the ideas from the video posts. great stuff enjoying it very much.
Sounds great! And look at that smile! 15m is already a really nice back-up, congratulations!
Here’s what I have for session 2 of our class. We had a vacation in the middle so we’re quite behind. I’m proud to say that we can frog on the floor now though so I now understand that he’s willing to progress on his lessons. I’ll willing hear any comments from anyone to speed our progress and understanding!
Nancy and Nero
Hm, I can’t see the video, it says it’s private…
Whoops--I think I fixed it!
Cool! Very nice to see him on sheep too, I don’t know much about herding, no sheep around here… Some comments: for 2on2off, try to help him less, he needs to find the position on his own and keep it until the release and he needs to think it’s a cool position to run to. For a sit up, make sure he sits straight, otherwise he can fall.
I need to practice sit up somewhere that is soft like the bed. He falls over backwards a lot. It doesn’t bother him, but taps into my personal fears of falling. Thanks for the advice on 2o2o. I’m definately helping too much especially compared to his independence when putting his front feet somewhere. Thanks for noting the problem with the video. I feel like a big part of this class is learning how to upload things to the web correctly.
Oh, no, if he is falling over, it’s not good even on soft surface (and soft surface makes it extra hard to keep the balance). Instead, position him in front of the sofa or against your legs, so that he has something behind his back to lean against. Also, offer your hand or a target as a support so that he can lean against with front feet. Click and reward when you feel his balance is the best, but it takes some time for them to find the balance and you definitely don’t want him hurt during the process.
Here’s our video of playing. Nothing special really, but she loves tugging and she gets really mad when I hide the toy from her 🙂
And here’s our 2o2o video. We haven’t gotten very far with it yet, but we’ll keep working on it.
PS. I would love to join your running contacts class when that starts, if it’s possible to sign up already?
Oh, she is just too funny, I just can’t stop laughing when I see that attitude. What lines is she from? It definitely looks like running contacts are a good choice for her 🙂 I’ll open registration end of March and as always, those from puppy class will have a priority, everybody who will want to can join in.
Couldn’t agree more! 🙂 She’s from the kennel “Coup de vent” here in Sweden. Her father is also bred in that kennel, but her mother is from du Picourlet in France. Great, I’ll keep my eyes open for rc class registration then!
Oh my goodness, Nyx is awesome!! I love watching your vids. My partner has just ordered a pyr shep pup from the very first litter that will born in Australia. I am sooo excited! The parents look just like Nyx -- they are from Hobnob’s kennel. Mum is currently the only Pyr shep in Australia and dad is in New Zealand
Thank you so much! Congratulations on getting a pyr shep 🙂 And cool that the parents are from Sweden! When will they be born?
Yeah, when i saw that you’re from Sweeden I thought they might have been related! Do you know much about Hobnob’s dogs? Pups won’t be born until the end of the year, praps even early next year (the breeder wants her bitch to mature a bit more first -). Still many many more sleeps to wait 🙂
Ah, I thought she is already pregnant… That sounds like a long wait! From HobNob dogs, I only know Victor and plenty of his offspring. I don’t like his head and heads he is passing to all his offspring, but that’s just my little obsession with PyrShep expression. He is definitely passing very nice temperaments, good drive and outgoing personalities. If only he would have different shape of the head 🙂 Nyx doesn’t seem to have that head, she probably has some de la Griffe Pyrenennee in her via her mother?
Nyx does have one HobNob dog (Cadeau) on her father’s side, but that’s all. No, I don’t know very much about HobNob dogs, sorry. I do know about one agility dog from HobNob and he is crazy fast 🙂
And yes, her mother’s father is Pyrrhius de la Griffe Pyreneenne! Cool that you could see that from a video!
Is it HobNob’s Dejas Vue who is the father of the puppys? Because I see now that Pyrrhius de la Griffe Pyreneenne is his great great grandfather! 😛
Sorry, I meant great grandfather 🙂
Pyrrhius is one of my favourites 🙂
Congratulations! When should they be born?
Oh yes, such a long wait!! Looks like it’s going to be a chistmas puppy. Yes, HobNobs dejavu is going to be the daddy & HobNobs Vitamine is the mummy -- good to hear Pyrrhius is in there somewhere! (thanks Kaisa for finding that out)
The breeder seems great, she will socialise them a lot and has offered for us to come and stay with her to pick a pup (she lives in the north and we’re in the south of Australia). I’m glad to hear they have good temperaments and drive- the parents seem pretty cool
Silvia, what don’t you like about Victor’s head? (just so i can start getting used to what a good pyr shep head/expression looks like)
Thanks!
Oh, it’s just a personal preference, I prefer shorter muzzle and wider scull, like with Lo and La. Le already has too long muzzle for my taste, but hey, you can’t have everything 🙂
Hey, just here to tell you that we’re still training! We lost half of the time as we were away for a week. We had lots of walks, but almost no training and no tape. This morning’s video failed, and I hope to train and film tomorrowafternoon.
I do have to share the funny news. I was still training the frog, but only in the house, and only with my fist full of coockies on the ground. And then.. out of the blue… at agilitytraining… she just did the frog 5 times while waiting!! She never did that. Really great! :))
Hugs, Sandy
Smart dog, it’s a great stretching exercise before the run! 🙂 No hurry with the video, send it when you have it.
Work in progress 🙂 We didn’t do anything for over a week, because of his sore paw. I tried Gitte’s way of making him back up, but he thought it was something like leg weaves 🙂 and even stepping towards him, he started getting in heel postion. he cracks me up! Lots of work to do!
httpv://www.youtube.com/user/12deadlycyns?feature=mhum
httpv://www.youtube.com/user/12deadlycyns?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/RHBCVSnZULg
Can you guys see the video? I only see the link.
Hey Jennifer.
Only an url. It’s no video you posted, but the address of your userpage :).
Try to click ‘share’ or something and you’ll get the right url, starting with: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Thanks, Sandy!
Cool, the circling and 2on2off are great! Sit up is hard for such a big dog, try to do it more gradually, you don’t want him to get used to hop up, he needs to keep the sit position. He does it very well three times, then you position the target too high, just keep it where it was, it’s much better if he heaves his front feet just a little tiny bit as if he stands up. For backing up, try to use a wall for now, that will keep him straight.
Thanks,Silvia,
for backing up along a wall, am I next to him like heeling or facing him? When he wants something he usually sits. Maybe I can try it during playtime.
Training time and playtime are still separate things for him, even though I use his tug rope in Agility class.
I just ordered some animal fur (sheepskin, foxtail and rabbit fur), and then we’ll see if we can light some fire under his butt 🙂
I need to video tape playtime for you…
For the sit up, could he put his paw on my leg to help him balance and not jump up? He has a big deep chest and doesn’t know how to balance yet.
Yes, try many different materials. From my dogs, La loves real fur and Bi thinks it’s gross to touch something that used to be alive -- she will tug on anything but real fur 🙂 Different dogs, different ideas. Many dogs love plastic and the sound it makes: plastic bottles, plastic boxes in which you buy cookies, even plastic bags… Try it all.
Sure, for a sit up, he can put his front feet on the target, your hand or your leg, whatever would make more sense to him. Click&reward the moment when you feel he is not leaning with too much weight. For a back up, I was thinking to do it with you facing him, but as he knows heeling well, you could indeed just try from heeling position, why not.
The last minute before third lesson starts… pfff my computer is sooooo slow!
I’ve made a video with everything in it except nr. 1 because then the video would be way more than 5 minutes…. but I will send it later.
We certainly still have some things to work on but I’m so proud of my little girl. 😀
The funny thing is, when we did the puppyclass in our town we almost failed the exam! That proves again your method really is GREAT and really belongs to us!
PS: Thanks for the tip about the Dutch Forum! We have a (used) very good quality tunnel for only €50! (normally €350 :-D)!!!!!!
Very nice work, Your girl is very prity and you work great with her.
Forgot to say love your command for the paw cross over, going to copy you if you dont mind as i have been thinking for a command but just could not find 1 i liked to use.
Thanks Alicia! The compliment really give me some confidence back again! You’ve all been so far!
About Jin, I must admit she is really gorgeous and such an amazing dog to work with!
About the command…. it’s just too funny! 😉
Fantastic video!! What a stunning dog and very clever 🙂
Thank you very much Camilla! I also really enjoy your videos! (And learn a lot from it!!!) Those dancing with socks really make me laugh everytime! 😀
GREAT job! I love how balanced and coordinated she is for her age, very nice back up, great duration on sit up (did you only started it 2 weeks ago or she knew it already?), great speed with circling the object and just too cute when crossing the paws (and doing the frog at the same time! 🙂 ) Hard to imagine how a team like this could almost fail any kind of an exam! Good news about the tunnel too! Already avoiding shipping expenses is great and getting it so much cheaper is even better!
THANKS!!!!!!
I was totally bouncing while reading your response about our video!!!!! ” YIHAA!! We are doing well!” 😀 😀 😀 😀
She knew the ” please” already but just for a little second.
Thanks for learning me this everything! You don’t now half how much we laugh every day and enjoy all of this!!
Here is Grace’s homework …
I taught her to walk backwards as a puppy but we struggle to keep it straight with any distance, so have gone back to basics of just rewarding a couple of straight steps
She already knows how to beg so we started playing around with holding an object. We have also been trying your shoe trick so we have put that in too 🙂
Her favourite games are to tug, chase, jump up on me and wrestle. From playing with her this week i have a few questions: she seems to be a bit flat when playing with me in public places like the park. Interestingly, she is obsessed with playing when we are at agility or flyball training but at the park she is distracted by the other dogs (I thought it would be the other way around!? Is it because i have conditioned her that at the park she plays with other dogs not me?) Because i don’t have much space at home i want to be able to use the park to train her to weave but she has very low drive for the toys and me in this environment. How can i change this?
The other question relates to her retrieve. She retrieves a ball very well at the park but if it is an object that is more high value (ie her tug toy) she loves to run off with it and chew it herself or throw it in the air for herself 🙂 She loves toys so i feel like i should be able to get her more obsessed with play but I’m obviously doing something a bit wrong. I would love any ideas …
Oh, she is just too funny in her pinky shoes! She walks very well in them already, when are you getting her high heels, that would be very funny on her long legs! 🙂 Another really well coordinated dog, great balance in sit up, nice back up and great pivoting. For a sit up, check first how she is sitting, the way she is sitting the second time in this video makes it a little dangerous that she falls. It’s better if you ask her for a straight sit before you ask her for a sit up.
And yes, think it’s a question of conditioning: I think she is focused and into playing at agility training as that’s how you always asked her to be and then the park, she sees it as a place to play with other dogs, it’s actually not unusual at all. Try to put her focus on name, use something like “are you ready” before you start playing with her in agility training and then “done” when you finish and then use the same words to put her in a working vs. free mode in other environments. In places she is not so much into playing, make it really short and intense and use her favourite toy. For fetching purposes, it’s very important the dog loves to tug as you want her to bring it back in order to tug some more. Start the play with tugging, then let the toy go for a second, step few steps back and try to have her follow before she starts to play on her own and tug again. It makes bringing the toy back to hand fun. Let me know how it goes!
Thanks Silvia! Yes, Grace would love a pair of high heels -- I could just imagine her strutting around the house. I’d never get them off her!
We just had a try of your training challenge from the main page. When she dropped the bottle i just waited to see what she would do.. She stood on it and started pivoting!! She doesn’t really know how to hold an object yet so better work on that first 🙂
Thanks for your tips about her play drive. That’s a great idea to name her focus. Last night at the beach i was playing with her in very short intense bursts and that really seemed to help. We would tug and i would run a couple of steps from her -- she flew into me to keep tugging. I realised i have previously ran too far back from her and she loses focus. If she does run off with the toy on her own should i just ignore her and turn on the praise when she eventually decides to run towards me or should i just walk away to get her to run back with it? The problem arises when we have more distractions (esp dogs bc she wants to tug with them and have them chase her), but we’ll let you know how we go 🙂
That’s too funny! And yes, the dog needs to know to hold the object well when you try the next step. When I tried the first time with my dogs, only Bi knew to hold it really well and only she was thinking in the right direction. So I worked on just the hold some more with Bu and La and then tried again only when we were making this video and they did great then.
If she goes away with the toy, try disappearing: run away and hide behind the tree or something. Grace sure sounds fun! I think being a little naughty sometimes is actually pretty cute 🙂 Perfection is too boring 🙂
Ha! Yeah, I totally agree! Grace’s cheekiness is pretty endearing 🙂 My last dog, Jayc, i had for 16 years (Cattle dog x border collie) and he was just the easiest ‘perfect’ dog -- he cruised around with me everywhere and virtually trained himself. When i got Grace i expected her to be the same -- i wanted a ‘perfect’ dog. BUT I’m so grateful that she wasn’t. She was a hilarious little wildchild -- the instructors at puppy school thought i had made a BIG mistake getting her because she was so full on.
She has taught me soooo much about training and relating to life in general and, yes, that perfection is BORING!
She knows my hiding trick way too well and tends to only run off with toys in wide open spaces where I can’t hide 🙂 You’ve never seen a dog look so delighted!
(If i walk off she does come running after me when i get to a certain distance)
hi there i also have a question with regards drive and maybe there are some others on the class that have come across this too so any ideas please. my 1st bitch ever, was spayed early at 6 months so never experience a bitch in season, but Spy has already had 2 seasons 1st at 7 months and second at 13 months with a fantom pregnacy to follow. i have noticed that she drops with drive quite a bit just towards the end of her season and i just have too do very little bits. Any help or ideas is this normal? At this stage she will not be spayed as we dont have any other very good tested cattle dogs for me to get from in the country. Thanks.
I always left all my females intact, but always treat them the same, in season or not, and I have never noticed any changes of the behaviour when in heat. I do think it’s mostly us who make them that or another way. I always laugh when people with intact males in US think it’s impossible to run with an intact male after the bitch in heat. We do that all the time here and no dog nor a handler have a problem with it. It’s just a question of perspective and what one finds normal. Try to act normally, play if she plays, stop if she doesn’t, just don’t worry.
Thank you