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 - my "magic" word is "ajde, ajde" and you can really see how much speed they add when hearing it - in agility or when running in the fields. I got it by saying anytime they would be chasing each other in full speed or go crazy and run in circles on a wet grass.
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. 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 practicing in 2on2off position already 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, I don’t mean to be negative but here are the problems we are currently facing -- I am sure you can help!
We have been working on the side 2 on 2 off -- he will keep his hind leg on a board (the chopping board!) propped up against the wall and lifts his paw. I have been clicking and rewarding that but not sure how to progress.
We are also stuck on the 2 on 2 off with hind legs up -- he will lift hind legs up to the couch or a small box abt 8 ins high but that’s as far as we get -- no hand stand yet!
Pivot on the plate -- i think I have created a dependency on the physical cue of my hand on my hips!!
Pole wrap -- he will wrap pretty hard with one leg & sometimes with 2. Have not been able to to get any duration in the sit up & wrap.
offered my leg as a support for his sit up to gain some duration -- he will wrap round my leg in a sit up -- is that a mistake?
have zero success in getting Harley to pick up a bowl or anything in his mouth. he will hold the dumbell when offered to him but I didn’t want to use that………….
thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.
-- When working on side legs, does he ever lift both legs at the same time? If yes, jackpot that + make an object more&more vertical. If not, work some more on that until he gets it’s about both legs and the fastest is to pick them up at the same time. He might get that faster if you try to get both legs on an object vs. one on the object and one in the air.
-- For normal 2on2off, see my answer to Sara.
-- Pivoting: keep the perch and fade the hand. Put it behind your back first so that it doesn’t distract him and then slowly start to move it freely around, click for position AND ignoring the hand. Should be easy at this stage.
-- Pole wrap: I would first get duration and firm grip with one leg hug, apart from that work on sit up duration and then combine the two. If he learns to lean on an object (like your leg), it might make an independent hold even harder as you want pulling there, not leaning on.
-- Bowl to bowl: How about using a toy first? Then switch to more unusual objects (like a spoon or something) and then try again with the bowls. What material are the bowls from? Plastic would be the easiest one.
Hope that helps a little!
With the side legs, he will first lift his hind leg up, keeps it on the board & then his paw -- will try to progress this & other tricks! Thanks!
I think with more repetitions, he’ll get it’s always both and will then offer both at the same time to complete the task faster 🙂
I have ben very lazy taping sessions, but that doesn’t mean I have been skipping puppyschool!So this is how we’re doing 🙂
#1. My magic word is “mene, mene”. I have been using it mostly by throwing a toy and letting him race to it, he is definitely running full speed so I’m using the word also when training running contacts. I can allready see the effect: If I say “mene, mene” while restraining him he will go crazy and run full speed when I let him go 🙂
#2 Havent trained this all that much but we actually already have a side and heel without the object. We had it before the class started lol. But I should work on it some more as a reminder and to get it on tape…
#3 Going gr8 no problems, he is doing it towards a slightly tipper book against the wall. Just wondering how to eventually get rid of the support?
#4 Allready wrote about that, in shert: we’re doing just fine
#5 we had been working on this before the lesson but never got to a independent hold so we went back a step. To the pole. I think he is holding it much firmer now and I allready got an independent hold for a couple of seconds 🙂 But we’re definitely not done yet, have to keep working
#6 I have to admit I haven’t been working on this AT ALL. But I’ll get to that ::D
Sounds great!!! Fading the object for side legs will be in your next assignment 🙂
Just a short one of our hugging pole progress -- is this the right direction? I can’t feel her really pulling it, but her paw is wrapping better now.. Maybe a fatter pole will be better?
Getting there! But you first need to add duration (by delaying the click first, then by clicking&rewarding several times in a position) before you can go for firmer hold. Once you have duration, wait with the click until you feel she puts a little bit of pressure on it.
Heeling position question (using my foot as a target):
Hi Silvia,
Since I’ve started to fade the target (small and flat) she has used my foot as her new target. The following session I went one step back using a large flat target. But she kept this attitude. I went another step back (a plate) and made it as well as before. The next session I came back to the large flat target (she knew how to do it before) but she went back with my foot…
How should I proceed?
Thank you
Céline
Video would help… Is she that quick with stepping on your foot that you can’t click her before it? Can she circle some without stepping on your foot? What if you start on a large flat target and then slowly step to the side, so that she doesn’t really notice, does she keep her paws off your foot then?
Hi Silvia,
I’ve noticed that she does it on her weak side because she wasn’t glued to my leg. so I practiced it mostly on this side with the plate and then moved with the flat target just for an instant and she made it well.
so the next steps I’ve planned is to change the target with a book, with the newspaper and see what happens.
I’ll tape it this weekend.
For 1into another:
when do you c/r?
she is now to the stage that she takes the toy in her mouth. and I want to c/r when she gets closer to the target. should i c/r when she losses it or before? but she doesn’t move with it…
thank you for your help!
celine
You should click for approaching the target, even if she is not dropping it. Or she is not moving at all? Put/throw the toy further then, so that she will need to move with it. And yes, it’s important that they switch to your leg as a new target if you want to avoid them using your foot as a paw target 🙂 But that sounds like a good plan!
Celine-
I’m glad that you posted about having the “foot” as a target for the heel-side exercise. I too am having problems. Blast was very good with a flat target, even a small clear target. But this is what happened when I removed it…
Looks good! Nothing to worry about. Just don’t click when he is stepping on your foot, it will go away soon. And it’s sure very cute 🙂
So, it is ok that he doesn’t seem to follow my leg? Your dogs seem glued to you. Even Le at 10 weeks!
I think he is doing great for this stage! He is not 100% yet about the position and is sometimes somewhat too behind you -- but that’s better as too much in front! 🙂 Simply keep working and he will figure it out!
This is Blast’s 2nd session with “hug”. The first time I was using a harder abject and he wouldn’t do anything but hit it. Then I thought a rolled up towel would work well and here are the results.
Wow, that’s GREAT hug!!! Go Blast!
Hi Everyone,
It has been a busy time and a challenge with the rain in New England to video much outdoors – but, well – we have done our best and are having a lot of fun with all of these tricks. I keep being surprised we are able to do some of these tricks that seem impossible at first!!
So – here is where we are at this point.
Crazy dog: Bean loves chasing- almost anything – me, her toys, the other dogs. I’ve started saying “run,run,run” when she is flying around – she seems to like that. Though we run around in the rain, it is not easy to video in the rain – so for this part of things, you can just visualize a crazy little BC streaking around!
Pivot/Heel/Side: Working our way down from a bowl to a plate to a flat plastic disk. Bean is snapping to heel and side nicely. We have just started to move sideways, forward and back. Bean seems to know just where to be moving forward and in circles but less certain moving sideways and totally confused moving backwards – suggestions?.
Sideways 2o2o: This has been sooooo much fun to do!!!! Again, as with other tricks, I could not imagine how we would get this – but believe it or not, Bean is actually kicking out her legs on the same side – she is so earnest and tries so hard she is squeaking! She has just gotten to the point of being able to lift front and back leg simultaneously on one side – seems really thrilled to do this and is offering it everywhere!!! We are working on the other side which is clearly not as easy for her.
One object into another: Well, this one is a real challenge for little busy Bean. I tried with some bowls and she just kicked them all over the place. So, I have been using her toy MukMuk and rewarding her for first picking up, then picking up and carrying, and now she will occasionally drop Muk in a box. We’ll keep playing with this and try to get some video for next post.
Hug Pole: We started out with Bean smacking at the pole and me, spinning around, doing froggy, and anything else she could come up with 🙂 We have progressed to Bean grabbing the pole with one front paw and a couple of times wrapping both legs around. Slow going on this one, but I am continually amazed how smart she is – I can swear I see the little wheels turning around in her brain as she tried to figure out what to do to make cookies and toys happen!
Stays with distractions: Bean is pretty good staying put with me running around and then releasing her to chase me or her toys. She can manage to hold onto a stay with two of our other dogs moving about, but one of our dogs (her favorite) is her biggest distraction. To have her focus and maintain a stay while he is running around will be our biggest goal.
I love watching everyone’s videos and seeing how we are all doing and how our dogs learn differently. Bean and I are enjoying this class so much! Thanks, all, for your help!
Diane and Bean
Great job! Really amazing progress with side legs! Great pole hug too! To get good side steps, try circling somewhat to the side first and then with every next step, do less % of a circle and more of a side step until you eventually only step to the side. You could try the same with steps back (stepping in a circle and somewhat back) -- OR you can tell her to back, follow her and turn yourself so that you’re backing up together, side by side -- not in real heel yet, of course, just to give her the idea that she can back up that way too, not only when facing you. Once she is o.k. with that, just tell her heel when you’re backing up together side by side. Happy training! And yes, sometimes tricks that look hard are actually very easy 🙂
Awesome side legs, Diane and Bean!!! You guys are doing GREAT!!!
Hi all,
Here is our 2nd video for lesson 4. One object into another was a tough one--couldn’t use bowls because Elsa just wanted to stand in them 🙂 We started with a toy and shaped picking it up (got a lot of pawing at first), then added a wooden bowl (different from the bowls she learned to stand in) & positioned it so she might accidentally fling the toy into it. I think she’s getting the idea although she tosses the toy without much aim--kind of like me--I’m the world’s worst ball thrower 🙂
We have been working on “cross paws” since lesson 1 & finally have both directions. Getting the 2nd direction took so much longer than the first for some reason. Fading the pivot has been going ok but she tends to surge backwards faster than I do when I take a step back. Any suggestions?
Thanks.
VERY cute paw crosses!!! BEAUTIFUL heeling!!! -- Just make sure that you vary the position of your hands… -- maybe put them behind your back for now, but you want to move them freely at one point. She seems to understand the bowl to bowl trick too yes -- she just isn’t the most precise dog ever 🙂 -- but the important thing is the understanding.
How do you add steps forward in the heel position? If I take a step forward he will back up behind me and look at me like: ” Hey I’m doing the right thing but you forgot your part of this whole trick”
Start with circles, but with every step, do some of the circle and a little bit of a step forward and then do more&more of a step forward and less&less of a circle until you can do a normal step forward.
I need to do updated video… behind in somethings; doing ok in others.
But thought I would share how I put the foot touch together with box to get a “cute” trick (Weigh yourself). He has to touch scale to turn it on, then get off for sec then get back on to get a weight.
We have some confusion over 2front feet on vs 4 feet on vs 2 front feet off; else I wouldn’t of needed a box in trick. How do you work the confusion?
This is facebook video so some may not be able to see
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httpv://www.facebook.com/v/2014396916144
Ha-ha, that was very cute! It’s normal it’s hard for them to know how many feet we want on that or another object, the only way is to put it on verbal cue. It would actually be a really cool trick, using the same object and then calling “front”, “hind”, “side” and “all” and having them offer all the possible versions on just a verbal cue!- But I’m terrible at naming things, I teach million of tricks and only have 10 or so on verbal cue only 🙂 Once the behaviour as such is trained, I often get lazy and never put it on a verbal cue…