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"
One more week on homework -- a few more problems!!
1) Pivot/heeling -- Summer doesn’t really seem to understand to stick to my leg. She only can pivot and step backwards, to the side and forward is not good. Some attempts at making “bigger cirlces” in the video -- shes improving but really slowly! I don’t know how to make it even easier!!
When I pivot and take a small step forward, instead of moving forward she will get confused (she knows shes not in position but doesnt know what is wrong) and over-turns her rear end. I don’t know how to help this?
Another problem is she moves VERY slowly without the perch. I tried again with the perch and she moved pretty fast! Any tips? Maybe if I take bigger steps she will get the gist? Or she will just get lost? Still not getting heads up..
2) Object in obect: since we already completed bowl-in-bowl last week, I wanted to try something harder that needs more precision. I got a bottle that only fits 1 way into a small shoe box. Here is her first attempt! Very fun to see her thinking!
3) Sideways legs: she has done it on many objects (slanting box, sofa, bags of dog food at the pet store!) but this is our attempt on a vertical surface. She understands the behaviour but I think she is having technical problems with balance. It should come with practice…
4) Pole Hug: I shaped it with 1 leg, and now she is pulling harder! Is this correct? Shall we go to another object yet?
5) Stay with toys as distractions: I click and treat a lot more than everyone else!! I am training more of an obedience stay and want to create a history of reinforcement.. haven’t added a “stay” cue yet, just clicking for offered stillness! 🙂
Thanks!! Doesn’t feel like as much progress as last week.. Comments welcome.. 🙂
Oh, that’s a good idea, with the bottle and the box! She is doing great! She definitely understands side legs well too, but yes, some more practice needed before she can really hold it. Getting there with the hugs! You can try with another object, but I think she needs to pull even more before she can hold it independently -- but sure, you can try! Of course, it’s important to reward a lot when first teaching a stay, but I think most people already worked on it before. Her heeling position seems perfectly good to me! I also think she is looking down less&less. I would keep working on bigger circles to get more forward motion, just slowly make it more&more pronounced. I think things are actually going really well, it’s just the speed that could be better yes, that I agree with. How about trying to reward it with a toy, toys usually give you more speed&power? Or at least extra good treats? Also, jackpot when she is somewhat faster and stop rewarding when she is coming in too slowly. Try this exercise only when she is most excited and make it extra fun, don’t do it at all when she is getting tired.
Thanks for your advice! We tried a session with a toy, and she was very happy and moved faster! For the left side this is fine, because she knows it ok. For the right side she becomes sloppy and moves too far away. Should I accept this for a few sessions? Or just go back to using food and being more precise?
Cheryl-- What precision Summer has with putting the bottle into the box! She’s just too cute!
Regarding sit & down stays--in the beginning stages of teaching stay, I did what you are doing with Summer--going back to the dog & rewarding a lot for holding a sit or down before releasing. I don’t use “stay” as a command as I want “sit” or “down” to mean stay in that position until I give a release. Slowly as my dog understands this (through a history of reinforcement) I only use my voice to praise them for staying, then release & reward. However, any time I add more distractions, distance, time, or change the environment, I go back & reward the dog for staying a couple of times before releasing. I want them to succeed so when I make something more difficult, I reinforce/reward more until they understand.
Summer is doing super with all those toys as distractions! Smart girl!
Thanks Kathy, that makes sense! Maybe I will not need a “stay” command either!! 🙂
Embarrassing, but I actually still don’t have a “down” cue! I generally just gesture with my hands. I am reteaching the position because she always lays on one hip, but I want a straight square down for obedience. Any tips? 🙂
Exactly, I teach it the same way as Kathy and don’t have additional verbal for a stay either. But yes, you definitely need one for down 🙂 Muscle in the rear end often help with sloppy sits and downs, that brings us back to sit up exercise 🙂 Also, I like to do lots of drop and run exercises: make the dog chase a toy, take it away for a second to cue down (first also with hand signal, but soon switch to a verbal only, it’s pretty easy if you do 10 or 20 downs in a row) and at the moment they drop, say “go”, click and make them chase a toy again. When they’re in a hurry to get back to playing, they will drop faster (I want all 4 feet going down at the same time and do not reward downs when the dog first sits and then lies down and eventually also stop rewarding when they go in bow first and then in down -- but I do reward those at first) and straight, to be ready to run again. Some dogs will still roll on one hip on long stays, but I let that be, I only insist on straight down for sends and while walking.
She looks great! If you want more excitement and speed, try short sessions, then great it off for a super fast game (tug or whatever) with a toy, then go back to working.
I meant to say break it off for a game with a toy!
Hi Silvia,
Here are our 2nd video. Be indulgent please because we have been working on lesson 4 for only one week :_)
#2. She doesn’t put her paw on my foot anymore. She still has a weak side. I’ve tried this evening the heeling trick without target and it worked pretty well. Thanks to the video I saw that I can reward still higher to get her head more vertical--> But it’s hard because I’m using really tiny kibbles that drop down so easily, it’s annoysing me.
#4. It’s strange: she can get 2 or 3 times the toy in the target, I think she understood the trick but then she seems lost and starts from the beginning again. I guess we just need some more time practicing it, don’t we?
#5. Can I switch for a big toy now or should I wait for more pressure?
#6. I’m also practicing this trick before going for a walk, before playing at the club. we are still at early stages.
Have I improved my luring default?
Thank you and see you tomorrow for the next to-do-list!
Céline
Wow, that’s great! You’ve sure done a lot of work in just one week! And you sure look healed from luring! 🙂 Side legs look great! And yes, bowl to bowl trick can take a while, just keep practising. For stays, try to reward more often, so that she doesn’t bark in between. If she still barks, wait quite a bit before rewarding, you don’t want to reward her for barking. You can switch to a toy, but I don’t think she can hold it independently for now, she needs to hold it more firmly. And heeling position looks great, ready for the next step! Happy training!
Hello Silvia and classmates,
We are having so much fun with all of these tricks! We are water-logged in New England with all the constant rain – so have video of more indoor activities. I’m including some of the homework from previous lessons that we are still working on – hope that is ok.
Side Legs: Some work on Bean’s less good side. And, she is now able to do side legs on her better side away from the wall. I am amazed! She loves doing this!
BumsUp: Bean is now beginning to offer this away from the wall also. I am rewarding this even though she is not doing a handstand – is this ok? I guess I’m not sure how to get from the wall to a handstand.
Heeling: When heeling (not pivots) Bean is not “glued” to my leg. Should I go back to more pivots?
Cavalettis: Ugh – we have not been able to get out and do this with the weather. This is our second attempt – I spaced the boxes our with a couple of cavaletti lows jumps between the boxes. We need to practice this lots. Bean seems to focus on me and not where she is going and stumbles over the boxes. Not sure what to do here – all help welcome!
Toy in Box: The bowls were a disaster – Bean just threw them around She is getting pretty good at putting her toy MukMuk in a box. We’ll try bowls again.
Cross Paws: We finally got crossed paws in one direction!! Again, I’m amazed as this started out with Bean flailing around swatting at anything and everything!
This class is the best! Thank you, Silvia, for all your encouragement and wonderful quidance! I love watching all of our videos and seeing the progress everyone is making!
Diane and Bean
Wow, she sure has great balance with side legs! Very cool! Don’t forget to work on her weak side too, though! Almost there with a handstand too, that’s amazing! You can practice it both with and without the wall, or ideally, find something like a pole that will probably tell her to push up more as without the wall, but won’t offer as much support as the wall. You can also do it against your leg and click when you feel she is balancing well on her own.
For heeling, I would definitely do some more pivoting and step by step heeling to get her more glued 🙂 Also, try to get rid of that hand, you want to be able to move the hands freely eventually -- for now, maybe just put it behind your back. -- The same for cavaletti, I think she is not focusing on boxes so much because of that hand in front of her nose. Try to simply walk her over. VERY nice paw crosses and great job with Muk in a box! Time to generalize it to other objects too! Great job!
OH MY, the Bumsup is HYSTERICAL!!! SO cute!!! I bet she starts holding it longer and longer very soon. I’ll have to try that with Roscoe. He does it with a wall already.
Hi Silvia, we did some homeworks from lesson 1 and 3 and the “fading the target” from 4. Fine shows the paw touch and she closes the drawer, Fine does the two leg frog. May be she is a little bit too far in front with heeling on the left side. The sit-up just for information where we are. Looking forward for comment.
Great, heeling is definitely going great! Nice frog too! For closing drawers, try to shape for even more power. And definitely try to add some duration to the sit up, to me it looks like she thinks she should just go up and down. She doesn’t seem to have a problem with balance, I think she just thinks that’s the final version of the exercise. Try delaying the click a little bit and don’t reward for just up&down anymore. Also, rewarding in a position (while still sitting up) would definitely give you more duration, but first, you need to get some duration by delaying the click.
We will try to add duration to frog and sit-up this week and more power to the paw touch too and then send it with the bowl in bowl trick. Thank you for remind on duration, that is what I often forget.
This is where Charm has progressed to on her heeling since I have faded the target and added a side and forward step. It’s a work in progress.
This is Charm’s 2o/2o while waiting for release with distractions. I have been working on having her wait for release while in a sit or down while running past and tossing food and toys. I’m surprised it’s taken this long to get her to stop and wait for release in a 2o/2o since I free shaped it, but it has taken timeworking with her every day on this. Are we supposed to be doing this even though we are planning to train a running contact? Is this for the purpose of proofing her startline behavior and developing rear end awareness? Am I doing this correctly?
This is Charm’s “beg” or “sit pretty” as I like to call it. It’s a lot of work to balance her 7 month old body but she’s getting the hang of it. I free shaped her to touch a target with both paws initially to get her to assume the position. Now I need both hands free, to manage clicker and treats. But I am luring her in to position and to get her to hold the position. I’m working on getting her to hold it with out my hand there.
She sure looks very happy about her tricks! Love that wagging tail! 🙂 You sure did great job, that’s a really good duration with the sit up, very good position for heeling and great 2on2off wait. I teach it to all dogs for learning self-control and about their hind-legs, but you don’t need to go into all details as you would if you were planning to use it for contacts. You definitely took it far enough, time to try stepping back on it! 🙂
Charm is the cutest cavalier in the world! I just love the wagging tail and the enthusiasm 🙂 Makes me want to get a cavalier :). What breeder did you get her from?
Hello,
Here is some video of lesson 4 from Leia and I (I included a little footage of Ace too just because I couldn’t resist). I’ll send heeling separately as it would make this video too long.
Side legs 2on2off is coming but needs a little more work to get both legs coming up at the same time before we can fade the object.
Hug the Pole is very slow for us, Leia seems not to want to get too close to it so, I will just be patient and keep chipping away -unless you have another suggestion.
We started playing with some drumming but it’s also coming a little slowly. I may try a bigger bucket, what do you think of the size of the one I’m using?
One object into the other actually came surprisingly fast. We have been taking advantage of accidental success with the bowls but I think Leia shows her understanding of the task when she places the toys in the basket. I tried when she was a lot younger but got lots of running away with the object -- for those of you having that problem, don’t worry, it can improve 🙂 The first time I tried it for this lesson we were outside and she picked up a leaf instead of the toy so I went with it -- my garden is covered with leaves most of the year -- what a great job for Leia to gather them all up and put them into a basket!
I’ve been working in some “go, go, go” when she’s running full out with other dogs. She seems to like my cheering her on.
I work stays mostly in every day life situations like when opening the crate door, house door, or car door (all automatic sit stays). I also work them when releasing her to play with another dog, or go for a swim, with sits and downs for a tug on a toy , etc. I like the concept Silvia describes in one of her comments under Lesson5 about how she teaches her dogs drop. I’m going to try that.
Thanks for all of the great ideas Silvia and fellow classmates!
Mara
Wow, very cute bowl stacking! Great job, as always! 🙂 Getting there with side legs too! Time to try completely vertical object, I think it will give you more of a simultaneous lifts. For drumming, the important thing would be she shifts the weight more back. Higher object might help with it. Also, you definitely want to click it if you see her shifting weight back. The easier way would probably be to have her in sit position in front of the drum, that makes it easier to get more pronounced front feet movements. I can see she is not too sure about that pole… You could of course try it with a toy or something similar first and then come back to the pole to teach her it’s o.k. too -- that would probably be a shorter way. But you can work through it with a pole too, just slowly make the criteria somewhat higher.
Thanks Silvia! It is so great to get your feedback and advice! Looking forward to trying it all.
Here is our heeling progress. Still need lots of work on position from what I can see. The video is SO helpful for me to see what it looks like but please tell me what you see and what you think I can change to make it better. I think we need more time on the perch to get the position and also more sticking to the leg, what do you think?
Again a little clip of Ace at the end. I had to show his backwards weave, still needs some tightening up but we’re getting there. I remember a few years ago when I first saw a video of you doing backwards weave with La, I thought
-How the heck does she train that?!? I have to find out!-
Thanks for sharing your amazing tricks with us!
Mara
O.k., I’m bold-ing this reply, hoping everybody reads it as this seems to be an issue with many, so would be good be clear that out 🙂 As I find myself repeating the same things, I’ll be in the future trying to bold the comments that would be really good for everybody to read. The best is of course if you can watch and read everything 🙂 but I know it’s lots of reading, so I’ll try to bold the most important stuff from now on.
Anyway, Mara, I would work some more on a target, you need to position yourself more to its side, not behind it as that puts her too much in front. Stop your video at 0:51 and see where your legs are in relation to her legs: they should be in the same line. -- Meaning that her paws should be where your heels are, not where your toes are. Also, try moving away from her in several small steps, not one big one, that promotes having them stay close all the time and make them look glued vs. moving in AFTER you step away. Other than those two little details, it looks great, especially with the toy! At this point, when the dog understands the position as such, a toy actually becomes much better way to reward it as it gives you better speed and later on more enthusiastic, powerful heeling. It’s actually the same with any trick: food is easier to use at the beginning, but once you have the behaviour, you can always make it look better by rewarding with a toy 🙂
Great figure 8 backwards! It’s one of those tricks that look fancy, but it’s actually very easy if the dog knows pivoting in both directions!
Thank you for the detailed explanations. Sorry to make you repeat yourself. I do read all of the comments and watch all the videos but it is a lot to absorb so the bold writing will help everyone I’m sure.
I’m sorry if it sounded as if I felt the need to start to bold things because of you!!! It was not meant that way at all, I was thinking to start it as I saw it helps in RC class and that the same problem was starting in this class. It was NOT because of your particular question at all -- I just didn’t explain it well enough at the beginning as I saw the same problem in many videos, so I just used your video to fix the mistake and explain better where exactly one should or shouldn’t stand 🙂 -- and bold it to make sure everybody sees it.
Mara--I also remember watching Silvia doing the backward weave & wondering how she trained it 🙂 It’s so exciting to find out! Thank you Silvia!
Your clip of Ace doing the backward weave was very helpful to me. My girl Elsa has been backing through my legs but then she would straighten & keep backing up at top speed 🙂 so having a table behind us as a guide/barrier has helped to slow her down & make her curve more as she is backing through my legs. Thanks!
Very cool Kathy. I’m glad seeing Ace gave you an idea. Looking forward to seeing Elsa’s backwards weave soon!
Okay, here is our current stage of Lesson 4 Homework!
We are having a bit of difficulty getting the side feet on something, I see how they offer back feet on now that we already worked on that! I think we should get it with a better object and some more time.
Heeling is getting better on both sides and we circle either way to target my leg. Very happy with that and getting ready to start shrinking the object.
With putting objects into other objects I decided to first pick an object up and bring it to my hand… we don’t have a very good retrieve right now! So this is the start, I hope to add distance to it and be able to have him retrieve toys (they are too fun to run away with right now!) and I think once this is well understood we should have no trouble picking up things and targeting something besides my hand to put them in. Thoughts?
For hugging the pole he is happy to offer his paw to touch it and is starting to wrap around but I think we have work to do on ‘sit up’ before we get a real hug with both feet, so I included our clip of work on sit up. When I watch it myself I see more jumping at the cookie hand than paw targets that are higher and higher… woops! Ideas on getting the sit up a bit better without the luring cookie hand?
Thanks very much!
Very nice!!! I think side legs are going perfectly well, no problem if he sometimes offers hind two -- just call him off and don’t reward it. A little confusion with that is much easier start of side legs as trying it with the dog who doesn’t know how to lift hind feet! Pivoting looks great too, ready for the next step! Very cute bring to hand too, you can go that way yes with bowl to bowl trick. Hug trick is going well, keep working with a pole all the way to a nice, firm one leg hug, it’s very easy to get it with both feet in a sit up position then. For a sit up, you’re somewhat too quick with the cookie hand. Wait for a longer, more obvious paw touch before rewarding it. You can hold the hand there longer -- as long as he can lean against your hand, duration shouldn’t be a problem and the behaviour will be clearer for him. Happy training!
Hi Silvia,
I’m still catching up with lesson 4 but the sun was shining for the 1st time in 2 weeks so I video taped “side 2on2off” and handstand practice on a vertical surface. Is there something more I should be encouraging Elsa to do to help her get to a freestanding handstand--or just keep going with what I’m doing? For side 2on2off, Elsa is really leaning on the board when she puts 2 legs up on it--should I keep going with this setup or would a vertical surface be better at this point?
Thanks!
I like to throw the treats on the floor (in handstand), between his legs. Cause you should encourage very vertical position with head low, and when you treat him from hand, he will “meet you half way” and get away from the nice horisontal position…
Thanks Lotta! Yes, Elsa is very focused on my treat hand & wants to meet me halfway. My aim in throwing treats is very bad so I have been trying to reward low but I see now this is a problem 🙂 I’m going to practice my throwing without the dog & see if I can improve my aim for our next training session 🙂
To fade the objects, follow the instructions from lesson 5. You can definitely go to a vertical object for side legs and switch to a thinner or empty object for a handstand. But reward even closer to an object for a handstand, so that she is even more vertical. Her front feet are still somewhat diagonal, they must be completely straight if you want her to be able to balance like that -- it is a long process, so don’t rush it, but rewarding in completely vertical position will sure help. Happy training! And hopefully more sun for you! -- We can borrow some, we have plenty of sun 🙂
Thanks Silvia! Borrowing some sun from you sounds like a great idea 🙂 We had one day of sun & since then it has been foggy & rainy 🙁
I just watched your “Winter Tricks” video again (your videos are always so inspirational!) & I’m curious about La & Bu’s different styles of handstands--La with her straight, extended back legs & Bu with her back legs tucked in & walking on her front legs. Did you start off training these the same way & then La & Bu developed their different styles? Or are these 2 different tricks?
Thanks!
It’s the same trick, trained two different ways. La was the pioneer of this trick (and many others 🙂 ), I never saw a dog do a handstand before and was actually not sure if it’s physically possible. It sure took me very long and I almost quit on a way, but I was training her differently, I taught her to touch my hand with hind foot and then just held the hand higher&higher -- that’s still my cue for a behaviour. I never let her lean on my palm, she would just push up to touch and go down. She still can’t hold it very long as she is too “diagonal” but it looks nice because of stretched legs. With Bu, I then tried 2on2off version for the first time and it’s much shorter and easier, but normally gives you tucked legs. With my puppy, I’m now trying to get both, better vertical position and duration with 2on2off and am now shaping for stretched out legs. I think she understands it pretty well, but doesn’t have enough core strength yet, so we don’t do much of it yet.
My Colby picked a nice bouquet of flowers to thank you for all your awesome instructions and to show you the usefulness of the hug-the-pole trick! She loves holding her objects! She is twelve and lost an eye this year so she is retired from agility, but she loves learning new tricks!
Oh, thanks Colby!!! 🙂 What a cute picture! And yes, tricks are perfect to keep retired dogs happy!!!