School time for our puppies! Here is your first to-do list. The first task might sound a little silly for those with adult dogs, but in fact, it's never silly to make a recall even better!
1. call your dog at least 10 times a day to do something fun together: to play, to go out, to get a treat, something to chew on or a new exciting toy
2. put a plate (or another object, but I like to start with a plate as puppies can't chew on those too easily) on a floor and shape a puppy to touch it with a front paw: you can first click for head movement in the right direction, then one/two/three steps, then stepping over it or close to it and finally for stepping on it
3. sit on a floor and put a fist full of treats or dog's favourite toy right in front of their nose, wait till they stop sniffing and click for anything they try other than getting directly to the food/toy or staring at it. It's very important the dog understands staring at food/toy doesn't get him anywhere as it will later on allow you to work with food/toys in your hand without distracting the dog's focus from the job at hand.
4. find a box or a drawer that is as long as your dog and not too high and shape a dog to put 1-2-3-4 legs into it. Then try with smaller&smaller objects, final goal is the dog can stand in a small bowl.
5. observe your puppy and see if he sometimes stretches his legs out when in down position, puppies often do that when relaxed or playing. Name it (I call it "frog":) and reward. It's a nice stretching exercise and very easy to get it on cue if the dog does it naturally (some dogs do it as adults too, but mine didn't and it was much harder to train it as with puppy Le who was doing that naturally). If not, put a dog in a down position and reward from the floor and so far ahead that the dog needs to stretch out to get it - but not so far that he would crawl ahead. Watch the hind legs and click for moving them back OR out, but NOT for crawling step forward.
Looking forward to see your videos!
Hi everyone,It’s fun watching everyones videos. I’m learning a lot. Here’s my first video. I have some questions.
#1 If I did the shaping outside where there are lots of distractions for this age pup and I wanted to shape something like we are working on. Should I just wait him out (as he sniffs and plays with leaves) and stay sitting for 10 min or what ever it take? Would it be ok to pull up on his leash and try to get his attention on me?
#2 After Zip jumps in the dish and stays there, is it good to give him two or three clicks and treats real fast while he is still in that position?
#3 When shaping is it ok to tell the dog he’s good and give verbal encouragement? Or is it best to be quit and just click and treat?
#4 Silvia, I noticed your 3 month and 4 month old dogs doing shaping on You Tube are MUSH farther along than mine. I’m just amazed and it makes me feel like I must not be doing something that your doing. Other than the fact that you know what your doing and have a lot of practice. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when someone asks why are your puppys so far along at a young age? Is there any one thing that just really comes to your mind. THANK YOU!
Hi! I’m not expert but just a thought -- even in the video he looks very distracted.. Maybe you could 1. lower the criteria so you get more clicks and treats per minute; 2. use an even yummier food so that he is more driven to work for it.
Same with outside work, though I would not go outside until I have a behaviour started. When there are distractions, maybe go back to a lower criteria for a time before trying to get back to where you last left off.
HES SUPER CUTE!! 🙂
I agree with 1. and 3. I will also advise 2. when students have problems with attention in class, but I usually advise to keep using normal food in environments that aren’t that exciting. I want them stay with me because I’m the most fun, not because I have the best treats 🙂 With my puppies, I insist on normal kibble even if they’re not too impressed at the beginning and they only get something really yummy on very special occasions.
John -- In answer to #3, it’s better that the click occurs without any verbal distractions. If you want to cheer on your dog, say something nice while you are delivering the treat. The quieter you are, the more the dog can concentrate on learning.
I’ve often heard it recommended that if you are struggling with distractions, to go start your training in the bathroom. It’s a small, closed space and eventually, your dog will focus on you because nothing else there is too interesting. As your pup starts to learn how much fun the training sessions can be, you can move the sessions out to more distracting places. But remember that when you increase the distraction, you might need to lower your criteria for awhile. And maybe use better treats! It’s important to keep the success rate high for your dog while learning.
I will second the bathroom and yummier treats ideas -- that is how I got Tili working at 11 weeks she is easily distracted -- now she has cottoned on to how this shaping thing works we are doing well.
I agree with being mostly quite, but as I wrote to John already, I will always mark the jackpots with my voice too. Mostly simply because I can’t help myself to not express my happiness about what they just did 🙂 but as I wrote, it actually gives great value to my voice, they associate it with something really good and important 🙂
Very nice puppy! And very good questions!
1. Neither of the two 🙂 You need to set him for success, so it was good idea to do it in that x-pen (o.k., that dish was still too interesting 🙂 ) You need to help them with their choice by making one of the choices way more appealing, meaning work on difficult, new, thinking stuff in very boring environment only and in more exciting environment, only do extra exciting things with extra exciting rewards -- for now probably meaning: just play! Later on, you can do some easy tricks in between, like spins and back etc.
In a situation when the puppy still finds something interesting (like that dish… -- yes, that was very nice of you to not include the whole process 🙂 ), I simply end the session, go answer my mail or something and then try again later. It teaches them my attention is precious, that I have other things to do as just wait for them to notice I exist and that they shouldn’t miss any second I have for just them as they will have plenty of time and opportunities to explore other things later on. -- That’s why I don’t like crating the puppies too much (I mean I will crate then occasionally, but to keep them in crates all the time when not working with them… -- I don’t think so!), I think it’s important they have an opportunity to explore things to every detail 🙂 -- and that they only have an opportunity to work with me here and there.
2. Yes, you can click&reward a couple of times even faster, then throw one treat out, so that he can jump in again. If you have something lower, that would be even better though: I prefer to shape them to step over with 1-2-3-4 feet over having them jump into something, that’s too easy, too quick 🙂 Stepping in requires better coordination and more thinking.
3. Usually, I don’t have time to talk much as I click&reward so much 🙂 But for every big step forward, I will not only click, but mark it with excitement in the voice, talking to the puppy while giving them a jackpot. That gives my voice a lot of value, more as if I talk all the time -- or if I don’t talk at all. It gives me a strong training tool when no clicker or food/toys is around.
4. I guess I’m the fastest in clicking 🙂 By the time some people need to find the treat, I already clicked&rewarded 10 times so I’m 10 clicks ahead 🙂 It also helps that I’m with my puppies 24 hours a day, I don’t need to leave them for 10 hours every day! And of course, experience helps a lot, it goes faster&faster with every next puppy.
I am not having much success with #5. Tried having him in a drop position & delivering the treat forward but he gives me a crawl as I had been teaching that trick too. In a previous comment, you suggested using the ball -Can you pls explain how to use the ball & what size ball to use?
thanks
1st step:
2nd step:
This video is very helpful. My Cache is keeping her back legs under her (like crawling). I’ll give this a try. HVALA
Prosim 🙂 (meaning you’re welcome 🙂 )
Cute videos! I used a small pillow for my little, older MinPins. It is working great! Just started it today.
I have a question about the great LoLaBu Land mystery: why those dogs work for kibble. You say somewhere here that in the beginning they are not that interested in kibble but come around. Does that mean I could reform my dogs that are used to nicely cooked cubes of chicken and liver as their training snacks? If so, how? My older dog just walks off if kibble is the first reward. My puppy is 50/50 -- sometimes she’ll take it, others not, but it sure kills the motivation. Should I try to change to a reward that makes me less of a kitchen slave to my dogs, or carry on with business as usual with the treats that work for my VERY INDEPENDENT dogs?
I use puffed wheat as the training treats, and dehydrated meat as ‘jackpot’ treats. This way, I can feed them the puffed wheat as much as I want without worring about them getting fat! 🙂 They seem to really like the puffed wheat.
Well, it’s on you to decide. My decision is partly biased by the fact that I don’t eat meat, that I don’t like that smell and that we never have any meat in the house 🙂 And partly it’s that I don’t want to have a feeling I might be bribing my dogs to work with me. So I simply insist on kibble. If the puppy doesn’t want to take it, that’s o.k., we always have a volunteer around 🙂 I do a lot of food-toy-food-toy chaining too. And somewhere on a way, they figure out that piece of kibble is their information something was right, so they start to love to see it 🙂
I don’t think using treats is necessarily bad, I definitely advise treats for easily distracted dog in exciting environments or for fearful dogs in scary environments. They usually work especially good with dogs who doesn’t get it on daily basis. If the treats work well for you even then, then you can just stick with it. Or, you can try switching while doing tricks that are the most fun for your dogs, those that are self-rewarding for them (for La, that would be jumping in my lap, vaults, left&right, speak, back and similar) and throw kibble as the reward. If they don’t take it, leave it there, keep using just kibble for two or three fun tricks sessions and you will see what happens.
Here is a video of Leia this morning (hence me in pajamas 🙂 We did a couple of sessions on each trick yesterday to start.
Wow, almost done with the whole homework already, you are fast! -- Well, you can still make that box smaller! Very good frog already! Does she sometimes do it naturally or you got it just by clicking?
Well, I have to admit I’ve done some of it with her before from seeing your videos. I started on a plastic container when she was younger but she always wanted to pick it up and play with it so I appreciate the plate idea! Yes, she is a natural frog I had just never worked to capture it but, she does it very easily and now that I’m clicking for it she is offering it from a down more and more. My 7yr old is having more trouble with frog as you predicted for older dogs but we will keep working at it.
I’ll work on shrinking the box now.
Thanks!
Hi everyone,
Here is my 1st video of Karmen, 10 weeks-old giant poodle.
As you’ll see she makes efforts but we are stocked on #2 and #5. I guess I miss something.
#2, Silvia can you send us the final objective because I don’t understand neither the purpose nor the goal.
#5 yes, she is doing it when playing/tired but it’s so fast and so rarely that she doesn’t understand why she is rewarded. I will try with the method presented on the video posted at 14:22
one more question: what shoul I do to make her understand to stand up. would you have a video for me, please?
Thank you
Céline
WOW, she knows A LOT for 10 weeks!!! And what a sit up, I don’t remember I ever saw such a duration with a 10 weeks old puppy!
However, you are helping her more as I would want to with a puppy. Luring her in a roll over and down, picking her up for a stand… I think you just get a better attitude when shaping as it comes from them then -- they won’t see it as working for you, they will see it as playing with you. I also introduce verbal cues much later on, at 3 months, my puppies only know their name and “good!”, no other word. Downing, sitting and standing, I just capture moments when they’re thinking in that or another direction. I don’t ask for anything and reward pretty much anything they offer to get as much self-initiative and self-produced action as possible. When they’re offering actions of sitting, downing, standing, touching, spinning… I name it, but I won’t count on them to actually respond to verbal cues for few more months, so at 10 weeks, I actually can’t show much, other than the puppy trying out different things. I don’t really want much more than that.
From this lesson, we only need to see some recalls and ignoring treats -- the other tricks are all good enough already, so let’s focus on just rewarding anything she does, trying to get as much action as possible. The goal of 2 is to get a paw touch to an object (the same as nose touch to a target stick, just that with a paw to a plate).
I captured this as the start to #5 and then moved her to a sloped piece of grass -- with a little luring her legs started to come back nicely -- is this a good way to go?
Thanks for all the advice!!! Silvia, this was a GREAT idea to have this internet class. I’m learning a lot. But, the training in the bathroom to cut down on distractions… might not work for me. I have a little pig (Sloppy) in the bathroom. Have to keep Sloppy warm till he gets bigger!! Or maybe I could move the pig to my bedroom. Or maybe not : ) I use to clicker train pigs to sit lay down and race kids (about 10 feet). I have a mobile petting farm, if anyone was wondering.
I can’t blame Mary for not considering there might be a pig in the bathroom! 🙂 I think your idea with an x-pen is just as good, we don’t want to distract Sloppy. Will we see Sloppy learning tricks too? 🙂
I think you should still train in the bathroom! I don’t see any reason why Sloppy can’t learn these tricks!! 🙂
Should I reward sitting in a box?
We moved from a bigger shallow box to a shoebox and now Carlos gets 2 first legs in a box, as soon as I click it, he collects the hind legs and sits…. 🙂 Should I reward this?
My puppy also automatically sits in the box. I’ve still been rewarding him, and my assumption is that eventually the box/bowl/whatever will be too small for them to do that, so we’ll be rewarding just balancing while standing.
Exactly, that’s the plan!
Here is Da Vinci during today’s session. Mara’s video helped me a lot with “frog”. I hadn’t thought to get out his mat (which he knows to lay down on). Thanks Mara. I was able to then spend time clicking any motion forward while keeping the feet back. This is our 3rd session on lesson 1, but only the first real effort at trying to get “frog”. I cut out a bunch of the initial video when we got started. Do you think I need a larger/ lower box or should I continue to let him work it out on this one?
Da Vinci is adorable! I liked watching him figure out how to get his hind feet into the box. 🙂
He is a “thinker”!
Great job! This is really small box to start with for a Terv! I think it would be much easier if you find a bigger one first and then come back to this one. Plate trick looks pretty much done and a frog can take a while, but I see you’re getting there!
working on getting my hands on a bigger box. Thanks. I forget he is a growing boy!
He is such a nice looking dog. I like how you made a circle mat for touches. And it would be entertaining if he eventually learned to get in that basket, but yeah. I think he needs a larger one for now.
Thank you! He is a hoot! That circle is one of my hot dish pads ;)!