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 might be easier with some directions, that's why I would like to see everybody's videos!
But well, it's time for a new to-do list, I'm again underlining the ones you want to focus on in case you run out of time for all of them:
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 playing the BC games, 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/plank/drawer 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 
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"
I have an interesting issue with Finn. He\’s so excited about hugging the stuffed toy that he\’s grabbing it with both fronts but doesn\’t have enough duration with the sit up to hold the position. What do you suggest I do? (Build duration with the sit up is going slowly, He does it well, but I seem to be stuck at about 2-3 secs before he puts down his front feet again. But he\’ll hold the position for much longer if I feed him in that position. What I did with Echo was to do the sit ups on the Bosu (the blue dome thing in some of my videos). When we moved back to the floor (after only two sessions on the Bosu) her duration had doubled. Unfortunately it\’s not big enough for Finn. Perhaps we could do them on a bed?)
Thank you. Rachel
Yeap, you can definitely feed him in a position to add duration to the sit up, that really makes things much easier and I reward in a position as soon as they have enough duration that I can reach in in time 🙂 You can also try it on a sofa or a bed yes, it’s close enough to Bosu!
Hi Silvia, I have a general question. It seems to me that my work with Gemini is teaching her that when there’s a question/problem she finds her answer through action/doing a behavior which I really love. Can you take an older dog, who wasn’t trained with as much shaping, and create a dog who solves problems with action? Thanks, Carrie
Carrie — you just described my borzoi, Finn. When I started shaping with him (when he was about 3 years old) he would stand and stare because he was so used to me telling him what to do. It took a while, but now it’s hard to get him to stop moving and stand still sometimes, LOL!
Thanks Rachel and Silvia. Thats good news and inspirational! I got Gemini’s older “sister” Twig as an adult rescue. She’s a fabulous dog, but I have those moments where she needs to think and she’ll freeze and stare. I really noticed it more as my training with Gemini progressed. Before Gem, I thought that Twig was frozen because I hadn’t trained the skill well enough ect…but now I think it’s because its a default for her problem solving (she hates to be wrong). So instead of retraining skills it looks like I need to illuminate her on action oriented problem solving:-)
Carrie
Yeap, sounds like she could use some shaping! The greatest thing about it is that not only teaches them to problem solve and offer action, it also teaches them that there are no wrong responds, there are just tries. It really makes a difference for dogs who don’t want to be wrong.
Sure, it’s possible! It’s harder and takes longer as with fresh dogs, but it’s definitely possible, you just need to be patient and learn to be happy with little things 🙂 I start them off by clicking ANY action and always throwing treats to help them be more active. It helps to give them an object they can interact with as that gives them more ideas and then just slowly build from there.
Echo and I haven’t gotten too far with bowl in bowl. This is her own twist on that game. Perhaps I should switch to antler in bowl? 😉 (She brought it to the water dish when she needed a drink…)
Oh, yes, Bi always needs to throw her toys in a bowl when she needs a drink…
we have been on Holiday for some days and met Ayokas sister in Italy..had nice days with mounten climbing. Ayoka learned to wear a muzzle to go in the cable railway. We had an other performence on a summerfestival in a shelter. Much distraction for ayoka again, but she did well. She had lots of full speed runnings with her sister and al lot of fun. Unfortunately we are fare behind with the tricks!
I have some problems with the bowls… she always wants to touch theme and didn’t get the idea to use her mouth.
We are working on the hug, she touched the bottle immediately, but we need more duration on sit ups!
Site version 2o2o we are working on it, but I cannot get her hopping on the object and she still need a stair for it. How can I get her doing it without an object?
Great, sounds like a great learning opportunity for Ayoka! For the bowl to bowl trick, did you try with plastic bowls? If that doesn’t work either, simply try with her toys first, might make more sense for her to pick those up 🙂 The hug, train it with a pole and one leg first -- see some other videos to get the idea. For side legs, we’ll get to fading the object in next lesson 🙂 Happy training!
Silvia and classmates:
Here is our second video for this week. Our greatest challenge has been getting both side legs simultaneously. Both Echo and Finn place their hind foot on and then their front foot. They’re clear that both feet go up but not that they should go at the same time. I think one of my challenges as a trainer is pushing forward the right amount and not plateauing. (I tend to have a woo hoo! moment and stay there too long…) Ideas, please?
Also bowl in bowl is going fairly well with Finn, but I’m still at the lifting the bowls stage with Echo. I’ve changed the game a little so that I’m shaping them both to bring an item to a target and I’ve started with a large target (a bath towel) which I’ll decrease in size as they get good at the game. (Retrieve… not one of my strong suits, I’m afraid…).
Heeling is going quite well. Today, after I made this video I started on Lesson 5 with Echo with the reverse figure 8 — all of a sudden she was so focused on the game that the target didn’t matter to her any more. She LIKES this new game.
Thank you, as always, for your advice.
Sorry about the “through a fog” appearance of most of the video -- someone licked the lens and I didn’t know it!!
For side legs, let’s try to simply progress with angle -- at one point, once they can’t lean on it so much anymore, I’m sure they will find it easier to do it with both legs at the same time. Also, make sure both legs go on the object, because when hind is on an object and front in the air, it’s harder for them to see it as one action. Great heeling position with Finn! Echo still seems to think it’s more about circling as following the leg, so maybe she needs some more of rewarding for following the leg on a taget before you can move away from it. You can make it very minimal though, like a little piece of paper. Great hugs by both and great stays by all three! 🙂
Thanks Silvia. I tried a more vertical stiff dog bed and it worked well with several jackpottable (is that a word?) simultaneous side legs!! YAY, Missy Echo! (Of course, she also managed to lean on it with her whole body, just to prove she could 😉
R.
Great! Definitely jackpot it, ideally as soon as the two legs go up, before she even touches the object (and leans on it…).
One more video clip before we move on to Lesson 5! Heeling still proves to be our most challenging. In fact, any trick that doesn’t start with a “prop” is tough to get her going on (“sit” is another example). Not sure how to help with that, other than patience and time.
Wow, that’s GREAT!!! What a great duration on a sit up already, great bowl stacking and really cute stays! For hugs, get more selective on other objects too, don’t click for pawing at your hand and wait for more of a hug, she can do it. Heeling is definitely getting better too, so just keep working on it. Adding more forward steps might help. Getting there with side legs, but it might be easier with something that still offers a little bit more of a support… Maybe something still angled some or something vertical, but non-slippery. And well, I think she is getting everything really fast, I think you really can’t complain things are taking too long 🙂
Thanks. 🙂 She was offering better side legs over the weekend, but I think you are right, and I’ll get out the flat board we had been using. This was the 2nd time I had offered something other than just the pole for hugging, and the 1st time I asked for it in more of a begging position. She seemed to hold onto the little stuffed bear, so I’ll keep trying with that one. Grit does seem to be a quick little study!
Regarding bowl in bowl. Penny is picking up the bowls really nicely but I have trouble moving on. I try to push the other bowl underneath the one she’s picking up and jackpot if it hits it, but I feel a little stuck. How did the rest of you move on from picking up to actual stacking?
Did you try rewarding in the other bowl? Or using another, significantly bigger object as the second object to make the probability of falling in it bigger?
Thank you for two good suggestions will try it out 🙂
Here is a video of Swift working on heeling. As you can see she is a little confused as to why the heck I am in her way and she tries to squeeze between me and the box. She also doesn’t understand that she needs to circle and hit both sides of my legs. Any suggestions?
I also tried to work on the side 2o2o and I can’t get her to put her back leg on it. I don’t really know where to go from here. I also want to do the “pee” trick but I’m not sure how to do that. Should I try using a target or should I use the 2o2o box and only click for one leg? I don’t want to confuse her 2o2o, so I haven’t gotten into the side 2o2o or pee trick. Thanks!
Cool, what a nice, fast pivoting! She is doing great, we just need to fix your position. Don’t stand behind the target but at the side -- meaning that you need to move from one side to another when you want her to switch to another side -- you can also cue that with your hand. Also, don’t keep her circling from one leg to another, do some “glued to the leg” too: moving away from her and have her follow. See some videos of others on where to stand, it will give you a better position (her paws where your heels are, not in front of your toes) AND will make it impossible for her to squeeze on the other side.
For side legs and pee trick, she needs to know to step into 2on2off position backwards (not up and down like in agility, but backwards, directly with hind feet on). If you want to make it look completely different as agility 2on2off, you can start by putting a blanket behind her and cueing her to back up, rewarding for stepping on a blanket. You then make it higher by folding it, putting one book, two, three.. underneath and as soon as you get some more height, you can start clicking lifting the leg (vs. actually stepping on it). Once she knows it’s about lifting her hind leg, you can name it to get pee trick and then go to side legs trick, it’s easy once you have that one hind leg lifts.
Okay, thanks so much. I need to start watching others videos, it’s hard being in college and working! Here is a video of Swift’s 2o2o
Absolutely LOVE this trick, I got Indie doing a handstand almost, I’ll have to send a video of that too 🙂
Great! And she is even hopping up with both at the same time sometimes, that’s a very good start for a handstand so jackpot those! One at the time though is better for pee trick and side legs, so you can start teaching those already now too, before getting too far with a handstand and loosing one leg lifts!
I’m so proud of my 12 year old Sheila. She always wants to make some Tricks when I work with Ayoka, too. So last week I ahped the bowl trick and she got it in 2 1/2 minute! And look how much fun she had!
Have some problems with the submit button (but I think it is the fault of my PC…)
Awww what a graceful and clever ‘old’ lady 🙂 Loved it!
That tail never stops wagging -- what a wonderful and clever lady.
She is a smart dog! And what a fun video to watch 🙂
She sure looks very happy to get to play too! I loved the bowl kicking at the beginning! And wow, she sure got it fast, very impressive!!! I guess old dogs can learn new tricks afterall! 🙂