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:
Here is Blast doing Beep more independently. Unfortunately, it was hard to film. I also, included his Spider. He is very happy to stay in that position.
Very nice!!! It looks like spider will become a free handstand in no time! 🙂 He has great technique and seems balanced enough that he will be able to hold it really nicely, you can SLOWLY start fading the wall.
I have been trying to fade the wall, but I don’t think I know how to. Any ideas? He has been giving me spider in different locations, and texture objects.
Try thinner objects now, so that he sometimes doesn’t find it 🙂 As he is so small, you can use table leg for example. Click&reward for pushing up, before he even touches it. You can also have him do a spider on your leg (see Le’s pictures) -- you can feel very well then when he is touching and when he is well balanced, so it’s easy to click the right moment.
Yay Blast! That handstand looks awesome!!
Video coming, for now here’s a written update!
1. I don’t take Dragon out that much, well, I don’t really get out much myself, so we still need to do this. I will take him on errands tomorrow!
2. I am still getting fluency in going all the way around in a circle both directions, but very soon I will start stepping in to get him to stop at my legs.
3. I thought that this would be super easy, but I underestimated it a bit!! Dragon doesn’t want to step into some of the smaller objects with his back feet as he walks over them. The larger tupperware and baking pan are okay, but with the smaller frying pan and metal bowls, he would turn sideways to walk around them. I spent some time luring him over them over and over and jackpotting if he put his back feet inside.
4. We are still getting fluency in backing up. I plan to start having him back up to a towel first, then start putting books wrapped in the towel behind him. He needs baby steps, I’ve learned. 🙂
5. The movement makes him nervous, so this is a very good trick for us to work on! I have no drawers that are floor-level, so I’m having him close a wooden cabinet door. At first I was holding the door all the way open and clicking for hard pushes, but someone commented above about having the door banging shut from the beginning, and that sounds better. So next session I will have it mostly shut and work on getting him to like the noise. This is going to be a BIG challenge for us.
6. We are still working on these other tricks. Meerkat is going steadily — he’s raising his paws up higher and will hold it for a few seconds. With crossing paws, I’m afraid that I’m STILL working on getting a touch with just one paw and not two. I’ve figured out that he does better if I warm him up with a paw touch while he’s standing (so he only can use one paw at a time), then paw touch while sitting, then finally while lying down. I want to put the right paw on the cue “tick” and the left on the cue “tock”, and we’re going to keep working on this because I want him to know the difference. 2on2off… we haven’t been working on this much at all, I just don’t find it interesting. Oops!
Yeah, paw crosses are harder with smaller dogs as both paws are so close anyway 🙂 But that’s a good idea, you can actually teach crossing as such in a sit position first! It should be easy to get it in down then after he gets the idea! 2on2off is a nice rear end awareness trick, even if you’re not planning to use it in agility, so… Just teach it as another trick 🙂 It’s a great beginning of a handstand -- you don’t need good backing up for that, it’s o.k. if he steps just one step back to reach the towel. Knowing 2on2off position from the other direction do help, though.
With doors shutting, go very slowly if you think he might not like it. Maybe you could tape something soft on it so that it doesn’t make too much sound and then just make it thinner and thinner? I do start with the sound (and drawers/doors open just a little bit) right away, but very gradually if I think it could be a problem. Fears are very easy to make them worse and very hard and slow to make them better, so it’s important to give the dog the time!
Same for that problem with stepping through the objects: maybe just work on problematic objects and click for any interaction and the go from there. If he is afraid, luring can be contra-productive as it can create even more conflict. I would work the cavalettis with objects he is o.k. with and work on interaction with problematic objects separately, through shaping.
This is my 1st 5 min. video for #3. Backing up with toy didn’t work so well, she would only go a few steps, and then just down or sit. Food I got better distance. what am I doing wrong?
I decided to make cavaletti (bowls) work harder by making her do it without me or a lure. I want her to be able to work away from me.
Is circle work what you wanted? or do you want it continuous? What is the next step? How do you get her to hop with both legs? She always reaches one leg a time on the stairs (which I didn’t video) I used a box.
the 2 on 2off is awesome, are you going to use it in agility? or do running?
I have always had BC, with 2 on 2 off. Time for a change = running. How did I get the 2 leg hop VS single leg reach back?
Just keep waiting and go higher? I read not to use angled ramp, that is what I started with an ironing board angled, So I switched to a box. Any suggestions for backing with a toy?
Great job again! Love the idea of independent cavalettis! It looks especially cute with those little bowls! Can I use your video on my website, to pass the idea to others too?
Pivoting is going great too, time for a flat target! 2on2off looks great too, very speedy 🙂 It looks to me like she is not very used to get a toy as a reward (also after 2on2off), maybe she was only rewarded with a toy for sits and downs so far and that’s why she is only offering that? Try rewarding with a toy more, for tricks she knows well already and then try again with backing up -- it’s just easier to throw it once you get lots of distance.
I think she will start hopping with both legs up more once you add more height. Take that stepping on as an opportunity to teach her the pee trick meantime 🙂 You got a really nice hop up already, so I’m sure you’ll get to the handstand in no time 🙂
For door slamming, how about taping something soft (a piece of cloth?) on it, so that it makes less of a sound. She definitely doesn’t look too happy about it and we sure don’t want that! Making the sound softer first and then slowly making the cloth smaller or thinner would make it more fun for her and will give as a confident slam much faster I think.
Yes, you can use my video on your site. Do you need me to e-mail just the clip of the bowls? I like that I am getting her to work away from me. “Go”. They were wood salad bowls we were throwing out and I put no slip on the insides and outsides. I used for my big bowl for 4 in and my 1st big for pivots. That last target is almost flat on 1/4 inch, so going just to a lid will be no problem. Correct we have done lots of tug for fast downs and sits! I will start on pee trick this week end. Thanks I will be gone until Tuesday.
It’s o.k., I will just post the whole video, other tricks are great too! Thanks! Sounds like your salad bowls are very useful! 🙂
Wow!!! Love it. Very helpful.
Oh looks beautiful! but what about the pink tail?
We were at an agility trial & a person was spray blowing nontoxic wash off color(kids) she was purple & teal.
That was me spraying:) lol! Kinetic has one too. Fun.
Here is where we are now. We are still very much a work in progress. Spur seems to focus on me a lot which is great for most things, but doesn’t work as well with the cavalettis. I also realized after watching this that I have to be more careful about my reinforcement 😉
We have some 2o/2o but will send that in another video. We also still have to work on toy as reward. We are doing it a bit with a down etc, but haven’t progressed to using it exclusively
Very cute! Loved that wagging tail! 🙂 For heel position, wait one step more -- her rear end is often swinging out a little -- one step more would be great. For a sit up, hold the target lower and more towards her, just like you do at the end of the video, so that she is not standing up. For cavaletti, nice movement when she is paying attention to the boxes 🙂 She will get used to it, just walk her over few more times.
iPad issues:
Just wanted to check in to see if anyone else is experiencing problems viewing videos on an iPad. I can see some, not others.(View fine on Wndows computer). Anyone else? Any known solutions?
Diane
I have same issue. Don’t know why’s.
Hi,
Here is an update off our progress.
Great beginning of a handstand! Nice paw crosses and sit up too! Still, try to get front paws up in the air too to challenge her balance some more! And, do reward even if you click by mistake and when jackpoting, still click just once and then just give more rewards/a toy. Speaking about the toy: did you try backing up with the toy then? Pivoting is going well too, her position is mostly perfect, but sometimes, you do click one step too early. It’s important her hind feet are all the way next to your leg too, so do watch her hind feet.
GUIDING vs. LURING question:
Karmen is my 1st c/r dog and I not have understood all the concept yet.
If I want to work on an exercice, how can she knows that we’ll work with front vs. back paw or standing vs. down position or tic vs. tac side … ?
When I’m guiding her (showing with my hand) I wonder if I’m not luring her --> then she starts barking when she doesn’t understand.
And why is it bad to lure (=help) the dog?
How can I know when I’m just helping vs. luring?
Thank you for your help.
Céline
MY thoughts: Luring isn’t BAD, but if you show the dog- lure- as opposed to letting the dog learn through shaping on it’s own then the dog never really learns to think for itself or problem solve. Eventually they will not offer behaviors readily. This might be the problem you have now. The dog isn’t sure what to offer, so is barking from frustration. You may need to back up and really work on shaping easy tricks in small steps so your dog feels confident offering behaviors.
When you start out doing a new trick for the first time, it’s all about patience and timing with the c/t. You need to allow the dog to cycle through behaviors until they come upon the basic step of what you are looking for. So with teaching a dog to back up for example, you will wait for any shift back and then click. When I reward, I try to reward in a helpful way to reinforce even more what they just offered (so for back up, toss the treat under them between the front feet so they have to back up more to get it). Then you start shaping to get the final behavior- wait for the dog to offer more and more before you reward, in small steps. I try to name the behavior right away so I have a cue to ask for- that way the dog will be a bit more aware of what exercise we will work on without me guiding them, if that makes sense. You can use a physical cue as well, like holding a flat palm if you expect them to ‘shake.’ I’ll use my right hand to get a front paw front my dog, but the left hand if I want her back paw. If you are doing more than giving a cue, you might be luring.
I ask my students- did your dog offer a behavior, leading to a reward or did the reward lead the dog to offer a behavior? If the reward lead the dog to the behavior… definitely luring.
Than you a lot Shenna. Your last sentence’s explanation helped me a lot.
I still don’t see the difference between lure and verbal/physical cue.
Than you again Shenna.
Céline
Shenna already explained it very well. Just few more things I would like to add: I will sometimes lure as sometimes, it is the easiest way to the goal. BUT I never lure with a puppy because I want them to understand the concept of shaping first because many things simply can’t be taught by luring, so at one point, you need a dog who will offer behaviors. If you always help with easy tricks and then count on simply going to shaping when needed, you’ll get in trouble. Once the dog is used to just wait for help, they will just wait and/or demand help by barking, so it’s MUCH harder to introduce shaping later on.
Another reason to shape other that some tricks just can’t be lured is that it gives you a completely different attitude to work as luring does. Luring is always a kind of “bribing”, you are always asking the dog to do something for a treat. If shaping, the dog learns to ask YOU to do something. The demand and initiative is on his side, working with you is their idea and they won’t see it as work, but as a play. Dogs trained that way won’t sometimes listen and sometimes don’t, but will see listening as a great opportunity to get to great stuff and will be interested every time (if done correctly).
But yes, at the beginning, shaping takes long, to get that or another behaviour, you need to wait until the dog offers something that goes in the right direction. After you name it, you can of course get it by your verbal cue or hand signal, but yes, whenever you’re working on something that hasn’t been named yet, you need to direct the dog in the right direction by clicking whatever goes in the right direction.
Guiding with the hand is for me the same as luring. The dog is not thinking or offering things, but is just following the hand. For shaping, you need more patience as that and yes, it does take much longer at the beginning, when the puppy is still learning the system. That’s why I was so surprised how many things you were showing with Karmen at 10 weeks. At 10 weeks, my puppies don’t know anything else but their name and some basic understanding of shaping -- but no, they don’t know sit or down or any other fancy trick. But they LOVE to learn, push for learning more, offer behaviors, have lots of initiative and creative ideas and know to offer more of everything that is being clicked. Once you have this, everything else is easy.
What a tough and fun lesson this week! Summer is very tired but happy 🙂
Exercises:
1) Pivot is going much better now! 🙂 Working on getting her to move faster. I feed her head up and straight, but she still turns looking straight, then looks up after the click. What should I do?
2) Cavaletti was a fun exercise but and challenging. Is it going correctly?
3) Backing up on objects/stairs -- it looks difficult for her as the object gets higher her legs look awkward. Don’t know if it is hurting her. I think I will not work on handstand yet, but will continue letting her back onto objects.. We just captured “pee” today!
4) Door/drawer pushing: we working on getting harder pushes
5) Sit up duration -- still stuck! On her own she can balance 1 second, no more. When I let her lean on me I try to help her get her weight back and click when she is leaning less. Very slow progress!
Thanks! 🙂
Great job as always! Pivoting is going well, your position of the reward is very good now. I think she will be keeping her head up once she doesn’t need to think about the exercise that much anymore. They like to look at the target first to stay on, so it usually goes away once the target is gone. You can actually already use a flat target. Cavalettis are going great too, she is doing it exactly like we want, changing distance and heights is good too. Those boxes don’t look too high for her, no. She is also getting very smooth and coordinated with stepping back on objects. Don’t add height too quickly, working on peeing trick first (with both legs!) is a very good idea! Don’t push it for the sit up either, work on independence slowly, it’s better that way as to have her sore after! It’s really no hurry! Great job with door closing too!
Looks great! Nice job.
Hi everyone, I don’t have mush new to show with Zips training. But I could use some help with getting Sloppy to stay. As you know I’m trying to race the pig and the dog. The dog is ready but I’m having trouble with the pig staying. He is getting worse the last day or so. If any one has any suggestions I would love to hear them. Thank you. I’ll be out of town till Monday. I just finished watching the video and I saw something that might be helpful. I mostly try to reinforce the pig in the stay position and don’t give him the release word “go”. But when I train my dogs I try to release them before they break the “stay” themselves. Maybe that’s what I’m doing wrong with the pig?
Hi John,
When I train my new pup to stay, I trained the release first -- this release is a specific behaviour of jumping up on a verbal cue. During this time. I also shaped the sit & drop. Once he knows the release very well, I proceeded to name the sit & drop and paired them with the release cue. Eg,I would cue s SIT, mark& reward and immediately cue a release, mark & reward. Slowly over time, i increased the duration between cueing the first behaviour and the release. In the initial stages, i will be delivering treats to him very frequently as long as he remained in position (eg SIT). If he moved before the release word, the treats will stop & I would gently guide him to position again, wait for a couple of secs, cue the release, mark & reward. i always make it a point to release my dog from a cued behaviour, so he learns that he does not move until released.
My release cue is purely verbal, so I test by running, throwing toys, etc & returning to reward him in position if he does not move.
Hope that makes sense.
Hi John,
How we teach beginner stays over here is that you ask for a “sit” click and feed, then wait 1 second, if piggy does’t move, click and feed again. Repeat 20 times or so. Then you move. Swing a right leg out, click for stillness at the “hardest point” (when your leg is furthest out), same with left leg, then take one step to either side, one step back etc. Repeat each action as many times as it takes for Sloppy to be successful.. We do this over and over until eventually u can walk 10 steps back and forward, and a circle around him without him moving.. Build it VERY gradually so he gets the idea “if i don’t budge i get more treats!”
If he breaks at any time, don’t say anything, just ask for a sit again and continue. Don’t make sessions too long or hard! For staying in position, with dogs it is recommended to feed close with chin tucked under. Not sure how that would work with the milk bottle though!
One more thing, when asking for the stay, don’t hold the bottle in his face.. Maybe after feeding hold it behind your back and bring it out after each click 🙂
Good luck!
Yea sorry, just got to the end of your video.. with the dog food, to reinforce “staying in position” you would want to feed it closer to him, with his chin tucked under… It seems now that he is launching towards the treat 🙂
Yes, I think you’re right, the “go” is essential part of the stay. When starting with the stays, I will stay close to the dog to keep clicking and rewarding -- then say go and throw a treat for them to leave the position. When a puppy understands the best is to stay in a position until “go” as the treats just keep coming, I’m slowly lowering the frequency of rewarding in a position and start adding my movement gradually, first just moving one foot, then doing one step, two, three, four… -- still sometimes coming back to reward, but still rewarding less&less in a position, but always rewarding for a release as that will be how their final behavior will look like: they will never be rewarded for a stay at agility competition any other way as with a release to start running, so it’s important they understand the release is their reward and if they leave the position earlier, the fun won’t start, they need to go back and wait some more. Not much time till Sunday left, but I’m sure the crowd will love Sloppy and Zip in any case 🙂