Wow, it's your 5th lesson already! Here is your new list. As we were discussing, I'm underlining the assignments you should focus on in case you're somewhat behind and don't have time to focus on all those new tricks. But you sure want to try them all at one point!
1. heeling: make the "glued to the leg" exercise more like heeling: still do different kind of turns, but also some normal forward walking in different speeds (slow, normal, fast) to teach them to adjust and keep the right position in every situation
2. figure 8 backward: tell the dog to go into heel position and start spinning as we were doing on the target, then very suddenly stop and step back with the other leg (if the dog is at left side - with right leg), you can also make a gesture with left hand to try to get them to keep circling below the heeling position, eventually all the way around you leg, so that they come backwards between your legs back into front position. If the dog insists on staying in heel position, you can help with the hand a little bit, lure his head out (left for 90 degrees if the dog is on left side) and say back to have them back up in your direction. Step back with the other leg enough to have them back up between your legs. Reward and tell them to heel on the other side (right) and repeat the process. As soon as you get some smoothness with that, stop rewarding for coming in between, always first tell them to come to the other leg and reward at your side in order to avoid having them back up too far - they need to stay very close to your legs all the time.
3. skateboarding: try to find a skateboard (kids department) and reward for making it move with front feet. Don't reward 4on, but 2 or 3, the criteria is they make a skateboard move.
4. cik&cap: find a table leg, dog-food container, traffic cone or similar and shape the dog to go around it - first just a step, then two or three circles, both directions (you can reward both right from the start if you are getting it - if not, start with just one, but then on one session, don't reward that direction anymore but wait for the other)
5. fade the object for side legs: if the dog is already heaving both legs up at the same time, click&reward that before he even touches the object, so that he understands the idea is picking them up, not touching something. At the same time, try changing objects as much as possible. Going to vertical objects shouldn't be too difficult, then go to "empty" objects like a chair that looks like an object, but doesn't really offer much support, so at this point, the dog is already free-standing, the object is just there for mental support. Next step in table leg and then you don't need an object anymore. For free handstand, you go through the same process, only that it takes longer as it's physically more demanding - you can start working on it, but do not rush it, especially not with young puppies!
6. don't forget on recalls and playing, stays with distractions (you can combine it all in a really fun game), try the hug on a plastic bottle or something similar that is light enough for the dog to hold it and have them hold it independently, add more steps to backing up from you, tape the 4in the bowl trick again so that I can see to what size you managed to get: the smaller the better!
And most importantly: have fun!
Hi Silvia & classmates,
OK…I’m totally obsessed with the backwards weave/fig. 8 🙂 It’s such a cool trick & I’m determined to get it! 🙂 It’s been a difficult one for us but we are still smiling & having lots of FUN! Here’s where we are today. We no longer need to work in the corner & have been practicing outside which has been a big step for us 🙂 I still have to step pretty far back & am wondering how to fade this & keep Elsa closer to my leg that she turns around. Any advise?
Thanks!
That’s going really well! And the sun is shinning again 🙂 To be able to step back less, closeness is very important, so make sure you always reward when she is at your side, very close to the leg. Food is probably easier. When you get her really close, try to turn her head immediately, so that she starts to turn immediately, ideally you feel her shoulder all the way when she is circling your leg -- the longer she stays close to the leg when circling, the less you will need to step back. It also gets easier for them if they stay close and learn to orient by touching the leg pretty much all the time.
Thanks Silvia! I’ll work on rewarding her when she is closer to my leg--I can see now on the video how far away from me she is when I reward her. I guess I had let that part go a little astray in my efforts to get her to curve back instead of shooting straight back or spinning. Elsa is so fast she challenges my coordination which is definitely not up to speed with her. 🙂
And yes, the sun is shining again here on the coast of Maine…finally. 🙂
You definitely got really far already! Closeness is the only missing link to the final version 🙂
Hi Silvia,
We have been gone a lot from home, now we are home to finally make a video 🙂
This video still has some Lesson 4 too.
1 -- carry bowl and drop into bowl. Wylie is doing pretty good, but he seems to get frustrated and seems to then start wanting to step in the bowl (like 4 feet in). I have not worked the 4 feet in trick for quite some time because I want to get the bowl in the bowl trick. Notice at the end he get frustrated, not sure why.
2 -- let lifts, looking at the video maybe I should not be so close to him? I have a hard time seeing the front foot.
3 -- handstand, he loves this, i have tried once to have somebody help me but he just wants to back up onto their legs instead of mine. Still working on get him to back up into me. Any tips?
4 -- around cik and cap, we just started this it seems to be going well.
5 -- skateboard, he is not able to push it on carpet but likes to ride it in the kitchen.
We continue to work on the spinning in the opposite direction independently, we have one way but not the other. We were stuck so I made the object smaller, it seems to have helped with the rotation some. I would love the backwards figure 8 someday 🙂
Thanks Sara and Wylie
To make a bowl to bowl easier, try throwing the treat into the other bowl when you reward him, it speeds up a process significantly. You could also try to do it with different objects first, to avoid the 4in confusion -- like with a ball and something tall and narrow enough that he is not stepping into it. Side legs are going really well already. His curled in head makes it somewhat harder, I prefer to be next to the object, facing the dog, to keep their head straight. To get handstand against your legs, you can lure him into the position that he is facing the same direction as you are and touching your legs with his hind legs -- and then just give your cue for legs up, might be all he needs. Very nice cik&cap, loved the “peeing” in between 🙂 Great job!
This class has gone by too fast 🙁
On this video “heeling”, smaller box, skateboard and cik/cap.
Just like with the perch she only likes to go in one direction for the cik/cap. We had some funny moments while taping this video -- Tibby stepped on a piece of hotdog, she tripped me when she wanted to pivot around the perch and she kept getting in the box when I left to get more treats (deleted from the video, but on Tibby’s blog).
I see heeling is going really well now! I see your lure is already becoming more of a hand signal, that’s good! After you reward for coming into the position, try to not always send her to the other leg, but do 5 or 10 more moves with her on the same side, stepping one little step away from her and having her come in again. That way, she will learn better the importance of staying close to the leg and to follow it when the leg moves away -- that’s actually a much more important lesson for future heeling as switching legs.
Nice progression with boxes! She sure doesn’t like that skateboard too much, so take that one slowly, reward whatever she offers and ideally by throwing a treat away, so that she can get away from it as an additional reward for coming close to it 🙂 For cik&cap, you can again help some to get the other direction. And for her good direction, you could maybe switch to her ball now, to make it more fun for her.
Hi Sylvia,
We have not tried backwards weaving yet, but we will.
Since I have the Cik and Cap video and we had already been working on it before it was assigned, I’m showing you where we are at now. Let me know how this looks to you and how you think it’s going.
Regarding Charm’s heeling, how can I help her understand the importance of staying close to my leg and following it when the leg moves more than one step away? It falls apart after more than one step forward and we haven’t even tried different speeds yet.
She’s getting stronger and better on sitting up/begging.
She’s getting better at skateboarding too! Can’t wait to start the work with two feet on the rolling ball.
It’s hard work for Charm to get all four gangly puppy feet in this small bowl and keep her balance, but she keeps trying hard.
Looking forward to the Foundations Class next!
Thank you for all I am learning from you. I appreciate it a lot. I am becoming a better dog trainer and Charm is enjoying everything so much!
Very cool! She is too funny on that big skateboard! Great duration on a sit up, time to try the exercises from lesson 6 on that one! 4in is great too, I think she actually has very good balance, that’s a really small bowl for such a long dog! Great cik&cap too! For heeling, try making very small steps and for now, reward for each one. Especially to the side, you always do such a big step that she can/t really be glued to the leg. Once you can do 10 steps forward with her really glued, rewarding for each step, try rewarding every second step. And then every third, every fourth etc. But remember, do really short steps -- it looks better, especially with small dogs.
Hi, Silvia.
I’m having a hard time getting multi-wraps. Are there any tricks or other conversations here I missed that would help? With naming, should I just be saying “zig” or “zag” as they are circling? None of them really seem to understand the cue yet and I think you told someone else it is too soon for them to know anyway. Are we just associating a word with each direction right now?
Is this thinking correct: My body language will tell them which obstacle to take (tree, cone, standard, etc)…the verbal cues “zig & zag” will tell them HOW to interact with it…wrap tightly right or left (in addition to where my motion is indicating we are moving next)???????
Yes, we’re just associating the word with the behaviour -- that always takes time. And yes, your thinking is correct. Meaning that already now, you can help with body language or hand gesture to keep the dog circling -- just make sure the dog is reading it as “o.k., so she is sending me around this object again” and NOT “o.k., let’s follow that hand” 🙂
Hi Kristen,
We are also having trouble getting multiple wraps around an object. I just watched your video from May 29 of your training session with DaVinci & we are about at this same point. Elsa has yet to do a complete circle on her own--only half circles in both directions with me throwing the treat to send her the rest of the way. We have worked on this a lot but are definitely stuck here and I’m wondering if you’ve had any breakthroughs that you could share while Silvia’s away. I tried what Silvia suggested in her reply to you (using a hand gesture to keep her circling) but I’m getting “ok, let’s follow that hand” which is what she said NOT to let the dog do. 🙂
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Hi Kathy,
Hope you don’t mind me butting in.. Maybe you could post a short clip of Elsa doing it? One thing that worked for Summer and I was if I clicked and tossed at a DIFFERENT point of the circle every rep, so it became unpredictable and she wouldn’t slow down in anticipation of the click.. So initially she was still turning only half a round, but a different “part” of the circle each time.. After a while they will start surging past their comfort zone part 🙂
Hope this helps! 🙂
I’ve been trying to vary it…I think like you describe. Do you have any video? I’ll play some more with it tomorrow though. Thank you, Cheryl.
This was the best I could find but she seems to be quite fluent in this video already.. When this was taken she was JUST getting single circles and I was trying to build to multiples for 1 click. I was trying to be deliberate in the tossing 🙂 Might not be so useful but I hope you can get any idea from it!
Thank you, Cheryl. You gave me some more ideas to try…I’m going to give it another try this afternnon. I love how thoughtful Summer is!
Thanks Cheryl! I will try clicking at different points in the circle to try and get her past the comfort zone in front of me & out of the pattern we are stuck in. Sounds like a good idea--thanks! I’ll post a video soon.
It seems that this trick is very the same as pivoting (perch work), so what did you do to get full circles in pivoting? Maiby the same will work for this?
THAT would be a great plan IF I knew what I did to get full circles on the perch 😀
For us, it was more of an ah-ha moment and a huge jackpot. I’m still waiting for another ah-ha moment I guess.
Hi, Kathy.
I’m going to play with it some tomorrow so I’ll let you know if we have any breakthroughs. I’m just going to to try a variety of things and see how it goes I guess. Took some days off. I’m not sure what works for Da Vinci yet. Callie just started circling multiple times so I don’t even have a plan to go with…she just did it. Right now, with Da Vinci, I make sure I click and toss when he looks away from me and in the direction of circling (when passing me). I’ll update tomorrow.
BTW…I tried fading the board for side legs…apparently he isn’t quite strong enough yet to do it without the support of the solid object 😉 I’ll have to take more time with that I guess!
Thanks Kristin! I have also taken a few days off on this one. I think I must have stayed clicking too long on the half circle & throwing the treat in same direction to finish the circle because now she repeatedly comes into the closest side to me & changes direction & goes around again in the opposite direction. 🙂 She now thinks this is what I want so when I try to wait her out she gets frustrated & either starts barking or tries to do something else with the object. When I used a jump standard, she tried “hug the pole” and frantically carried it across the room :)) so I’ve tried different objects--the most recent being a stack of gallon paint cans. Good thing the lids were on tight because her “vent the frustration” trick was to try 4 feet on the top can… 🙂 The tumbling cans didn’t bother her a bit--she then started rolling the cans! 🙂 It was quite funny & I wish I had the video running--it would have made an exceptional “bloopers” tape. 🙂
Oh, that sounds hilarious! Yes, Da Vinci and I are stuck there too. After one circle and no click/ treat, he must think I want something else and tries side legs or pawing or stepping on the base like it’s a perch.
This morning I tried a session with him. I tried standing and letting him cue off of my body language some…giving him an arm cue as a send and then as he came around, giving another arm cue as if quickly sending him to do it again…that hand was the one to toss the treat to complete the second circle. Then I also let him do some singles…starting at my side, circling and returning to my side.
I’m going to try another session this afternoon too…trying what Cheryl did.
Oh, and he is more than happy to race around something and return to me. It’s multiples that are hard. Is Elsa doing that too?
Yes, Elsa is great at leaving me and going out & around something. She will even take a jump & wrap tightly around doing a nice cik or cap turn (I’m not giving a verbal cue--she is cueing on my body language when she does this). But she does not want to do multiple wraps 🙂 She really has trouble turning her head away from me when she is facing me. We had the same problem with the pivot & she eventually did it but kept her nose high in the air so the time she had to look away was less than if she kept her head lower & in line with her body. I call it her “seal pivot” because she looks like a seal when she does this. 🙂
Hi, I’ve just caught up on all the comments and I had the same issue with Maia. She would not complete a whole circle around or multiple wraps. What worked for me immediately it seemed was if I put my hand (empty with no treats) above the table leg that I wanted to get her to go around. That is also what worked with pivoting around. She caught on right away. Then I slowly faded the hand away from the table leg. Now I can sit or stand away and she will go around on her own. I’m not sure why that work for her, but it made all the difference. Hope it helps.
I think it gave her a focus point away from me and on the table leg?
I’ll try it. Thanks, Ania!
Kristin
Skateboard…
Very cute!!! And now time to try it without the hand 🙂
CUTE dog!
Hi Silvia,
I think I mixed up lesson 4 and 5 a bit in the video but anyway.
I would me grateful if you could comment before you leave, especially on the cik and cap!
I think we make some good progress on the “handstand”. I’m just wondering how we will fade the object she is leaning too. You probably answered this question somewhere already. I can look for the answer, no problem. We just got a brand new skateboard, so we just started that trick. I had a “pivoting” problem the first session. 😉 Heeling… Hmm, not going that great. Probably because I do not practice it enough. You’ll see she only does it on my left side and you’ll also notice she crawls between my legs all the time. That’s because she already knew that move. When I give a sign with my right hand she comes around my right leg and lays down between my legs (start position). Now I want her to “heel” on my right side but she always crawls between my legs. To be honest, I do not really mind… The bowls, she is still throwing them in the air. 😉
We still need some time for the side paw move but it ‘s fun!
During the process of learning the side paw moves she also picked up a kind off “pee trick”. I ‘m going to try get that better to get yet another trick. 😉
Cik and Cap! It’s going better! I stopped luring and the first session she grabbed the pole, she even touched it with a hind paw! But no cik or cap. She really did not know it. Now it’s getting better. What do you think? What to do next?
Yes, fading the object for a handstand is explained on several places and is pretty much the same as fading the object for side legs as described in #5 of lesson 5 🙂 But first, you need to get lower head, so reward from the floor, between her front legs, as close to the wall as possible to get completely vertical position. Very cool skateboarding! Nice hug too! For heeling, she is too much in front, pay attention to it! Some more work needed with that one yes… For a bowl to bowl trick, she thinks that’s the end behaviour… You rewarded throwing it around too long -- you would need to constantly raise the criteria -- so definitely do it now! Getting there with side legs! Cik&cap is going great now too -- just try to reward like you do in a third from the end try, not like you do in the last two tries, when you go around with a hand: that again brings her attention to the hand too much. -- Just a little detail, but worth mentioning 🙂 Keep working on multi circles + you can add some sends, as you can see in some videos from first graduates (if you see Alicia’s video, you can see well how to reward the send) -- but that’s actually a step for Agility Foundations.
Hi Kristin, Cheryl, & all,
After our discussion above about problems getting cik&cap wraps, I now have this video showing some of our problems. I wasn’t sure where to post it so have started a new thread.
We are so STUCK on this one. I think part of the problem is that I had previously taught Elsa to go out around an object & return to me so this is a “retraining” exercise for Elsa which makes it confusing for her.
A note about this video--I did this to show several things we have tried & the all the problems we’re having on one video so I purposefully stayed very quiet in this training session. Most of our training sessions are not so bad. 🙂 I don’t let it become so frustrating for her--I either quit on a good note or switch to something she enjoys doing (like knocking over the paint cans…just kidding! :))
We have been having some success with a hand signal to keep her going around. At first she was following my hand (not good) but if I do a quick flip of the wrist she seems to understand this as, “ok, she’s sending me around this object again”, so I’m wondering if I should keep doing this & add a verbal cue & slowly fade my hand signal… Any suggestions are welcome!
Thanks!
Hi Kathy, may be you sometimes click when Elsa is focussing you and not the object she has to wrap around. I would only click when Elsa doesn`t look at you but wraps her neck and head around the paint cans. May be only when she looks away from you. Just as we did with the perch work. It`s only a suggestion………..and why not with a hand signal?
Kathy -- try Birgit’s suggestion here. This is what I did with Callie in the beginning and she will occasionally offer me multiples. Elsa and Callie are very similar…I’ve noticed that from your videos.
Hi, Kathy!
Yup…that’s about how things look here. I did the same thing…taught them to go around something and return to me but I don’t think that is a bad thing…I think it is just making this step hard for us. They are learning to turn tighter…just not getting multiples without a treat tossed around so they complete another. I think Silvia said the hand signal is fine. I tried using a hand signal to cue the 2nd circle but we didn’t really make progress. I wonder what would happen if we moved more or allowed our shoulders to cue more. Da Vinci has done quite a bit of work coming to my sides to move in the same direction I am moving so I wonder if it is confusing to him when I’m just standing there and he is basically stuck “front” before the second circle with no direction information from my body…did you originally teach Elsa to go around something with your motion towards it being the cue? “If I’m moving in this direction, focus forward to that obstacle.” (then return to the side you present her with)? Just brainstorming here. With my dogs, they do great if we have more than one cone/ standard/ etc. and I can move, but that’s how we practiced front crosses and pulls. With one object, it’s a struggle. So, that’s my current thinking and why I’m going to try moving more for multiples…maybe that will be just enough information to help them (or maybe one of us will have an ah-ha moment to share soon!). I’m also going to try Ania’s suggestion next time too.
Kristin
Hi Kathy and Kristin, I think it`s a timing problem. We have to click in the moment the dog wraps the object; and for multiples it may be important to click when the dog looks away from us -- on the way to the next wrap or just the first steps of the first wrap. So that they try to reproduce the behaviour of looking away from us and wrapping the object. In your video you clicked for facing you and not the object (0:14,0:19,0:23,0:29,0:56,1:03,1:06,1:09,1:17,1:21,1:26,2:07,2:25,2:29,2:35,2:42) I would try to click the moments she is focussing the object and not you.
Thanks Birgit! Sorry I spelled your name wrong in my post below. Guess I need my reading glasses for the names in gray type! 🙂
Thanks, Birgit. I think I too was doing this. I’ve been paying better attention to clicking when the dogs are looking down toward the base, toward the cone or away from me. It’s improving. In fact, I already thought Da Vinci turned tight for a big dog, but he is bending even better today.
I think I was looking more at the tightness of the turn and the click was happening as they were coming back to me.
:):):)
Oh, Wow! It’s so cool to have fresh eyes look at the mechanics of your training! I honestly thought I was clicking correctly but once I went back & watched the video again I realized how much I was clicking when Elsa was focused on me. 🙂 I guess it’s become a habit for me because for so many things I click for eye contact & old habits are hard to recognize when you’re caught up in the moment. 🙂 Thank you Brigit--I think it was definitely a timing problem for us!
Kristin--I think I’ve had an “ah-ha” moment! Based on what everyone has suggested, I went back to square one & did what Cheryl suggested (clicking & tossing treats at different points of the circle to break the pattern), BUT I only clicked when Elsa’s head was down or turned away as Brigit suggested. And using Silvia’s method of “rapid fire” click & reward when first training a trick, I clicked & dropped treats on the floor (5 or 6 in one rotation)--sometimes I’d click for no steps, just keeping her head down, & sometimes click for one step or maybe two. Whenever I sensed that she was going to look up I would click & drop the treat close to her nose & because she was so focused on scooping up all the treats I got that one “magical” click as she passed me in front without looking at me. It was that “ah-ha” moment for her, “Oh, I get it! You want me to keep circling past this place in front of you!” I wish I had the video running for this sweet moment but it happened fast--I think it was the second rotation doing this that she got it! So I guess timing is everything! 🙂 So here is the video of our training session this morning where she now understands to keep circling past me. We’ve only done this to the right & just one wrap now but I’m THRILLED!
THANK YOU everyone for your ideas & suggestions!! They have all been so helpful! This is such a great class!!!
YAY!! That is great! 🙂 I’m so glad you had the ah-ha moment, we all love those… Keep it up!
Very very cool, Kathy!!!!! I did some “rapid fire” practice with Da Vinci, Cash and Callie today. Excellent suggestion and description of what you did!!!! Thank you. By the time Callie was finished, her session looked a lot like your video. She had a better understanding that she could circle again. Da Vinci’s progression seemed just like what you described with Elsa. I got him so focused on the ground and wrapping that he went right past me for a second circle at one point (looking for that treat) -- JACKPOT moment…and then he was really getting it. The hand I am tossing with seems to be doubling as a cue…but if I don’t actually toss the treat, I make sure to jackpot him on the other side. Don’t want to be faking him out or teasing him with a fake toss. Cash…well, he enjoyed collecting all those treats at the base of the cone but he is convinced that he should circle one way, back up and circle the other way. He likes to thing things through…my “do it right or don’t do it at all” boy 😀
Thanks everyone for all the help! Are any of you on Facebook? If you want, you can find us by my full name. Kristin Rosenbach
Oh, that’s GREAT!!! So glad this worked for DaVinci & Callie! I love this team effort problem solving that’s been going on here while Silvia’s on vacation! Thanks everyone!
Are you doing circles in both directions yet? We’re still just circling to the right & I don’t know whether I should keep going with “cap” for multiple wraps & add cue, OR try for “cik” at this point. I’m leaning toward staying with “cap” because I don’t want her to fall back into circling one way, stopping, and circling the other way. 🙂 Elsa’s yet to offer the opposite direction--she did this with pivoting too. And although it took awhile for her to be able to pivot in the other direction we did get there eventually…
Thanks!
We are doing both directions. Silvia said that is ok. She also said it is too early for them to know the verbal cue. At this point, we are just associating a word with the directions. I just say it as he is circling but he chooses the directions (makes you learn your right/ left quickly!)
Try letting her start from your right side and see if that sets up a left circle “cik” to happen.
Looks great!!! I will try the “rapid fire” with Fine too.
Wonderful job! I’m so glad to read that one of the suggestions worked. It’s so gratifying to watch all these puppies and dogs ‘get it’! 🙂
Have any of you put a name to it yet? I’ve tried, and she seems to sometimes understand, but not other times. I would just repeat cik/cap when she was rotating around. Maybe I did not do it often enough yet? I really want to get this right with her and I am worried I did something wrong already and maybe I’ve diluted the commands cik/cap already???
I think we are only associating the words right now, Ania.
I meant to tell you…I tried holding my hand above the cone and they started hugging, perching and doing side legs on the cone. Goofy dogs!
Ania--I also tried holding my hand above different objects & got the same results as Kristin--hugging, side legs, etc.. 🙂 I didn’t try it on a table leg because I don’t have a table that doesn’t have bars between 2 of the legs, or was tall enough for Elsa to fit under. But thanks for the suggestion!
Oh well…I’m not really sure why it worked for me and my friend. I first tried it for the perch work after weeks and weeks of not being able to get them to circle completely around. The second I put the clicker hand up over them, they circled. I faded the hand after only two sessions. I did the same with the cik/cap when I cold not get them to go around completely after a few weeks. Again it worked and then after two sessions I faded the hand (the only problem is that Maia will sometimes circle with her head high, looking up -- so now I have to get her to look down 🙂 when circling)
I think what Kathy tried and suggested sounds great and I will try that too to get her to look down now.
Yeap, high hand might help, but also gives you high head, so try to click for lower head now. The same for Elsa: great breakthrough, but still some work needed to get lower head and more back bending. And yes, I click&treat the circling so much on various points, always by tossing a treat or reaching in VERY quickly with the hand that they don’t care on what part of a circle they are in relation to my position. ALWAYS reward at the base OR later on throwing a toy AWAY from you to get them to really focus on an object and their job with it. You can help with a hand signal, but you don’t want them to FOLLOW the hand, but to turn away on a signal.
Hi Ania, in our homeworks for foundation there is ci&cap too. Silvia:”Name it as soon as you get fluent circling”. It`s only about naming, just saying cik or cap when the dog is actually circling around. I don`t know but I think you need much of repetitions here and then you say the name a little bit earlier and earlier and it becomes a signal/cue. If your dog doesn`t react when you call the name of the behaviour you want, the name isn`t a signal yet and you have to work on the association part again. I hope this might answer your question about naming the cik& cap and using the name as a cue.
Thank you, that’s what I thought 🙂 we need more repititions for her to understand it as a cue. 🙂
Is there any special tip for stand-up to sit-up or is it just about to lure the dog down? That doesn`t work with Fine. She only wants to go from sit-up to stand-up but not the other way round. Any tips? Any excercises to be done before?
I’m having the same problem with Maia -- she will go from a sit-up to a stand-up but not the other way around. I’ve never lured so I don’t want to start now either. I think, as with the cik/cap, Maia still does not really understand the sit-up and stand-up cues enough independantly.I hope that once she understands them, I can get her to do it; it may take a while though just like going to a down from a stand did without sitting first did.
If anyone has any suggestions that don’t use luring I am all ears 🙂
I just got it (once) with Callie! This does require a lot of strength so be patient. She started the “sit pretty” to “stand” WAY back in February for her rehab so she knows the verbal cues very very well. I’ve been trying to get her to go from “stand” to “sit pretty” for several sessions now. HUGE jackpot today when she did it. I treat her for the “stand” and hold my hand there so she can hold on while I give the verbal cue to “sit pretty”. If I felt she was backing up, I raised my hand repeating the cue but allowing her to keep her nose on my closed fist. As she lowered into the “sit pretty” I kept my treat hand at her nose and encouraged her all the way. Then a jackpot!!!! My guess is, it will come much easier next time. I’d be patient. This is really hard. Before this, I did a lot of practice randomly asking for sit, sit pretty, stand, down so she learned to quickly move from one position to the next and really listen to my verbal cues. I think Silvia said a lure is ok here.
Kristin
I don’t know if this will help but with Elsa because she can’t yet balance in a stand-up, I let her rest her front paws on my forearm--then I lower my arm a bit when I say “sit-up”. I also give her a hand signal for sit-up at the same time with my free hand. In the beginning she would step back & be less vertical so the sit-up became impossible so I tried this close to the wall or something that prevented her from stepping back & she got the idea pretty quickly.
Thank you Kathy,Kristin and Ania,
good tips and good to hear that you too had/have problems with stand-up to sit-up.
Yes, that’s how I usually do it. Some dogs still find it really hard, so another tip would be to let the dog go up from sit up position just a little tiny bit: and immediately tell them to sit up again. It’s important to be quick, the lower lift you are able to catch, the easiest it is for the dog to sit back down and once they see they can do it, it’s very easy to progress, you can usually let them stretch up completely in a session or two if you are successful in catching them with a “sit up” verbal before they stretch their knees. It works great if the dog is getting into a stand up gradually: if they go to stretched knees in no time, it makes it much harder.
Exactly.
Thank you everyone for your discussion as you have addressed the two problems I was having the multiple wraps and going back into the sit up from the stand.