Time for a new to-do list!
1. take your dog to a city center, a store that allows dogs (pet store?) and on a train station
2. position yourself next to a high target and now only click for circling all the way to your leg (don't click for steps in between) - name it with heel for one side and something else for the other and have a dog follow your leg when you move in a circle around the target away from the dog - then tell him to come to the other side and have him follow the other leg. Use different targets, try it on a very low one too.
3. build your own cavaletti and walk the dog over it - you can use the drawers or boxes of appropriate size and height, put them in a row and walk the dog through, just as you can see on this video
4. try the other version of 2on2off: instead of having them go on an object and off, stop in a position and wait, let's try stepping back into 2on2off this time. Position your dog close to a low object behind his back, cue him "back" and reward for stepping on an object or trying to. Slowly, you can have a dog step on higher&higher objects, this is beginning of a handstand, but with young puppies, don't overdo the height. Instead, you can have them back up stairs for example, to challenge them some more without making it too physically demanding. You need to build balance and strength slowly enough for the dog to never be sore after. You can also teach them a "pee" trick: click when they heave one leg, searching the object - before they find it and name it, it's a fun one.
5. put your paw target on a drawer or doors or simply shape the paw touch to a drawers/doors and then select for stronger&stronger touches/pushes. The goal is to have the dog slam the doors or drawer with power, to teach them that they control the movement under their feet and the sound and that it's FUN - my favourite trick for a great see-saw!
6. don't forget on recalls and playing!!! Also, slowly add duration to a sit up, teach crossing paws with the other paw and fade the target, check if the puppy will stay in 2on2off position until "go" even with distractions (toys and food flying around)
Have fun!
Final version of 2on2off:
Last call for 
Backing up exercise -- having trouble with -- down the hallway or across a room no problem -- low level/the couch not to much trouble but most of the time she has trouble going back and up.
Nice! Great slams! You made the cavaletti quite difficult for her, starting with larger distances would be easier (by turning the boxes the other direction and leaving somewhat bigger gap in between one and another). Perch work is going great too, just make sure you only reward when she is completely parallel -- you sometimes rewarded her one step before the perfect position, with hind end still somewhat out. It was mostly o.k., just something to pay attention too. I also don’t see the problem with backing up that box… -- That’s pretty high already! But now comes the difficult step when she can’t step on it with one leg only first and needs to hop up with both -- so add the height VERY gradually and jackpot when you see she is trying to push up with both legs. Happy training!
So here is our somewhat delayed Lesson 3.
I am having trouble with #2, as you can see. She either walks back and forth infront of me, or comes to my side, I click, treat and she them moves away again. When she does come to my leg, she stands very crooked, almost infront of me. Maybe I need to use a different perch?
I am still working on her crossing her paws. It is coming along slowly.
And I’ve given up on froggie! -- I tried capturing her in the ‘play dead’ position, but she just jumps up and then offers me everything under the moon, but laying on her side again.
Ania
Oops, forgot the video link:
Oh, those happy legs in sit up position are just too cute!!! I also loved the slamming, she doesn’t seem to mind the movement and the noise at all! Backing up into 2on2off is going well too, getting three for a handstand! For pivoting, yu don’t need a different perch, you just need to position yourself differently. Copying my comment to somebody else with the same problem: standing like you do, you’re actually asking for wrong position -- as you are behind the target, her front feet are too far ahead and therefore she is curled in towards you. Position yourself to the side of the target (meaning that you need to move to the other side every time you send her to the other leg), so that her legs are parallel to your legs, meaning that her paws are where your heels are and her shoulder is at the side of your knee (not in front) and rear end is straight, not swinging out. Don’t reward anything that is not exactly that position as it’s very hard to get rid of sloppy positions.
I have a question about the socialising part. I would really love it if Terra would play with me anywhere, cause I love to use play as a reward to make it extra exciting and if he can play and run with me anywhere, well thats agility for you 🙂 But at many new places he is not remotely interested in playing or toys at all. BUT he will work for food pretty much anywhere!
So my question is: Should I keep rewarding with food, doing tricks and wait till he gets totally confortable with the new environment and THEN see if he will play. or Should I try to get the playing first? So that he wouldn’t learn the pattern of only getting treats when we´re in a distracting environment (like Agility!). Or am I just worrying to much about that?.
He doesn’t show any interest to toys at these places, even if I run and try to be so interesting with his favourite toy. Sometimes he does play with me on walks but not that much if he sees someone, which is weird cause he will play with me at the dog show or at the agility trial where there were TONS of people around! I think if theres only ONE person then he gets kind of fixated on him…
I guess another problem is what to do if he just doesn’t play? I sure do not offer him food or anything but if I just give up and continue the walk he gets what he wants for ignoring the toy, also if I carry him away he gets what he wants :(. So I do not want to keep trying to offer the toy and failing cause then he gets reinforced for refusing to play … :S. Please help.
Did you say at the beginning that he doesn’t play with distractions like agility around and than that he plays at agility trials? If it’s only when one person comes when you’re on walks that he doesn’t play, I wouldn’t worry about it, he is just a puppy and curious about who is that person 🙂 If he doesn’t play at all with distractions around, I would for now use treats in those environments, but try to find an environment where he would play, make it lots of fun and then try to get the same in more&more environments. Try to predict if he will play or not before trying to offer a toy, but if you sometimes predict it wrongly, don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world, take the toy and keep working on that he will once find it THAT much fun that he will take it anywhere -- even if he was reinforced before for not taking it 🙂 -- When he finds a toy reinforcing enough, he will take it.
thanks, I will try doing that but it is just very hard predicting when he will play and when he wont :). Sometimes he wont play even if theres noone around and sometimes (like at that agility trial) he played like crazy even though there were both dogs and people around! It might just be that he is in, don’t know the correct term in english, in finnish we call it “mörköikä” roughly translated to “ghostage”. Meaning that he is suddenly scared of everything and sees “ghoosts” everywhere. Or maiby he just didn’t feel like playing and I freaked out about nothing :D.
Well, just keep trying and I think you’ll be able to find the pattern at one point. Additional tip would be to start the play session with his favourite trick and then reward by a toy. Bu often won’t play in scary environments, but she will always play after agility run or after doing a trick like a spin or a jump or something.
Hi,
Here is part of our homework from Lesson 3. I’m sorry for the delay.
Very nice! Great cavaletti work, getting there with the slams and great beginning of a handstand, looks like he is ready for another book 🙂