And here comes your last list!
1. add duration and distractions to heeling – try it in different environments, reward a lot there, but apart from that, start adding more duration: reward every couple of steps with a small reward first, then do a really long distance and big jackpot for it – then a couple of steps for a small reward and long distance for a great reward again – vary it a lot for them to be able to see the pattern that the longer there is no reward, the better!
2. pick up the object to hug it – if the dog can already hold an object independently, put it on the floor and see if he can solve the problem and pick it up with a muzzle to get a hold of it with a paw
3. get a ball for kids, hold it with your feet so that it doesn’t move too much at first and click for front legs on – then release your feet a little bit so that it starts to move and the dog needs to balance on it. Now click for little steps on the ball, the final goal is the dog walking ahead with hind feet on the ground and front feet rolling the ball. Great for balance and coordination and for getting used to objects moving under the feet.
4. “sit up” to “stand up” and back and “down” to “sit up” and back – great for strength in the back, especially important for those who will be doing agility. Down to sit up and back should go easy, use a hand signal together with your verbal cues. First, reward even if the dog goes into sit for a second, but then try to get rid of it and go for direct transitions from one position to another. Sit up to stand up is easy too, you can use a lure for that one. Going back to sit up (without falling in sit first) is hard, so offer your hand as a support so that the dog can lean on it and then click for any knee bending until actually going into sit up. This is conditioning exercise, so you can help some more with lures if necessary, but as always – don’t do it so much that the dog would be sore after, you need to build muscle and balance gradually.
5. another great warming up exercise to stretch the dog before the run: spins to left&right and figure 8 forward. I teach it with a nose touch, putting a hand for a nose touch on the right spot (somewhere at the dog’s hip) to get a spin, then getting more&more spins in the same direction in a row, fading the hand and putting it on verbal cue left &right – very useful also on a course! I also do figure 8 forward with a nose touch, putting a hand so that the dog comes between the legs, rewarding at the side and then again the other direction. Fade the hand then into hand signal and then completely, using just a verbal cue. I simply use cik&cap.
And yes, sure, that nose targeting is almost as luring and if you wanted, you can also shape it instead. I will sometimes lure as sometimes, it is the easiest way to the goal. I never lure at the very beginning stages as I want a puppy 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. But I don’t have a problem with going the other way around: first only shape, but later on do some luring or targeting when teaching something like figure 8, spins or sit up to stand up.
6. limping: click for one paw in the air (front or rear, whatever you prefer), add a little bit duration and then start clicking for any movements or weight shift of other 3 legs. Shape towards a real step and slowly add more&more to get limping on front/rear foot.
You again have 2 weeks to work on those exercises and post videos to comment and suggestions for improvements. Then, I will open a new, "graduation page" and this will be your very last assignment: making a video of everything you learned in this class – without training sessions as such, but finished version of tricks, some breakthrough moments, some playing, city walking and everything else you did with your dog for this class (using what you already taped or taping some more). Those videos will be your graduation work, you will get a “LoLaBuLand puppy class graduate” certificate and as a gift, a download link to a training DVD of your choice (see the training videos website to choose one). Auditors are more than welcome to post graduation videos too!
I hope to see many of you also in Foundations, starting 17th of October! And mid-November, "More Tricks" class will be starting too!
Hello Silvia and everybody !
here is the video of Revi and me from the 6th lesson. For the limping, we are still busy fading the object for lifting a hind feet and she is still confused wether she has to lift one or two paws. so this still needs time.
Also the sit up going up to stand up, we must still practice as we just started. But from sit up to down, she loves and this went very quick.
Thanks already, Silvia and it’s such a pity this is already the last lesson…time flies and also Revi is almost 7 months !!
Rebekka
She is too cute picking up the toy and hugging it! And with that down to sit up and back too! Very nice heeling too, great head position! You can slowly add more duration too. What verbal cues are you using for left&right spins? Make sure they sound different enough to cik&cap -- sounds too similar to me! Slowly fade the hand for spins and figure 8 into more of just a hand signal and then minimalise it until she can do it on verbal cue only. Great ball rolling too! And wow, 7 months already! So what is her height now, she doesn’t look as if she grew much?
Thanks Silvia, me too I think she does the picking up and hugging in a lovely way, I love to see her like that.
You are right, I use cik and cap for the spinning, so maybe left and right would be better ?
7 months and…..37 cm…she’s really not a big medium but a very small one…but she has spirit and drive for two 🙂
After she was 5 months young (that’s when you saw her) she indeed didn’t grow much….
Yeap, definitely use different words as cik&cap always means go forward and around something, while left&right is turning without an object. And yes, I’m sure she will be unstoppable also with only 37cm! 🙂
You have such a lovely dog and you are an amazing team!
thanks Sandra !! Revi is too cute yes and as everybody tells me she seems more like a cat, it really is like that ! Today she brought home (not for the first time !) a mouse which she catched, she really is an amazing doggy..
Here’s my second video for this lesson. I’m feeling very pleased with the enthusiasm I’m seeing! This is our first time doing any of these tricks outdoors so I’m especially pleased. It’s very clear that I need to back up a bit on the heeling and get more precision and stick-to-my-legness. BUT I love the head position and wagging tail.
Leg-weaving backwards is definitely one of our favorite tricks. I look forward to your insights and advice.
I’m working on adding multiple spins and twists and also fading the hand signals (not quite there yet).
One of my challenges with this lesson’s tricks has been grabbing a toy for hugging -- I don’t think i have enough duration yet, but as I try to add duration she is so eager to grab the toy that she’s grabbing with both feet so I’m not able to let go of the toy. Thoughts? (I’ll try to video my status of this trick and post a short update this weekend).
Silvia, thank you for all you’ve done for me and my dogs!!
Rachel
What a nice and happy heeling! You loose her on turns some though, try stopping first and then turning on one spot, just as you would on a target, so that she sees it’s the same thing. Also, try to vary position of your hands, you don’t want her to get dependant on your hand position. Nice spins and figure 8s too! You can make backward figure 8 even harder now by stepping back less than that, so that she needs to turn even more. But I really like her independence and smoothness with this exercise! The easiest to add duration is to keep feeding her as long as she is holding a toy: if you are trying to delay the click, she might think you want her to try both feet, so click as soon as she grabs it with one, deliver a treat to fast that she is still holding it and then you can immediately click&reward again. Keep feeding it until she lets it go or tries another leg: then stop and try again. I think she will soon figure out the easiest way to keep the treats coming is to keep holding a toy.
Thank you, Silvia. By my hand position, you mean where I have my hands as I’m walking?
I’ve been trying to do as you suggest with the hug game, but as soon as I click, she drops the toy to eat the treat. If I delay my click a bit, she’ll hold a bit longer, but nowhere near the duration that I’m looking for. I’m having the same issue with duration on a leg lift -- as soon as I click, she drops the foot, but if I withhold the click an increasingly small amount, I can build some duration, but it’s still only 1 to 2 seconds.
In any case, thanks for the feedback and advice. I’ll work on it!
R.
Yes, don’t always hold hands in her view as she can get depended on it: try with hands behind your back and then also moving them freely. Not sure how is it in US but here you get points down for holding a hand where you do as it’s considered as an additional cue. What if you try delivering the treat when she is hugging a toy without clicking first? Maybe she keeps the position then? If not, you can try encouraging her with your voice? OR, another trick to add duration is to use “wait” -- if the dog understands a cue that means freeze in whatever position you are, that makes things even easier. Bu is brilliant in this -- you tell her a behaviour cue + wait and she knows to add duration. If Echo doesn’t know a cue like that just yet, try to introduce it on tricks where she has some duration already: like sit up, side legs etc. -- once they generalize it, adding duration becomes really easy.
I will start holding my hands in various locations. In the US in competition obedience you may have your left hand either at your side, or at your belt (but your elbow shouldn’t be poking out like mine is). Being that I have borzoi, I usually keep my hand at my belt.
I like the “wait” idea -- she does it with stand, sit, and down. I’ll try it with sit up and with hug the toy and see if I can get her to generalize it.
I went back to having her sit when hugging by making sure I placed the toy close to her as I’ve found part of the problem is that she’s not grabbing it hard with one leg. With two, she grabs really hard but then tips herself forward 🙂 so going back to one leg grabs will probably help. I’ll let you know.
okay, finally a video for lesson 6! Sorry, it is definitely not our greatest, too many other things going on right now but I wanted to post something..
Great sit up to stand up and wow, he can also sit back down with some help! After he gets fluent when leaning on your hand with his paws, you can bring your hand from up down, so that he can only lean with his nose and then slowly fade it completely -- not an easy one with a big dog, but I’m sure he can do it! Down to sit up needs some more practice so that he goes from one position to another directly. Great job with ball rolling!!! He has great balance, so adding even more distance will be easy now. Happy training!
Here is Grit’s 1st session heeling in our driveway (after the 2 sessions at the hotel over the weekend). I kept all the raw footage so that you can see a pretty amazing transformation in her ability/enthusiasm to work. In new environments, this process can take much longer.
She is initially anxious as she thinks I’m going to put her in the van. I have a mix of kibble and meatballs for rewards, but unfortunately (or fortunately for the video), she gets a kibble 1st, and you can see her spit it out. She also starts out with that kind of vacant look. But she quickly improves, even to the point of jumping up. She likes ‘side’ a lot better than ‘heel’, for some reason.
Any suggestions? Or just keep doing more of this?
Cool, that sure looks much happier! In new environments, try to always start her with her favourite tricks and get to heeling once she gets happier about being there. Also, does it help her if you have the other dogs around too and maybe do something with them first to make her see them happy and relaxed in new environments -- that might really help her. If she likes to run with you, you can also try running and rewarding for eye contact, even when her position is not perfect -- it will be easy to put the two together, once you have the right attitude and high head. Happy heeling!
Silvia, I know class is over now (that was quick!), but I will definitely continue to work on this puzzle. You have some good suggestions. Interestingly, heeling is as good a trick as any, really, but she is getting where playing with a toy is easier than doing tricks, so we may start there… Having the other dogs doesn’t really matter. We will continue to experiment!
Hi Silvia and Class! We just got started on some of these so need definite feed back on how to proceed! Heeling may not look much different but at least Heidi doesn’t keep running back to the flat target anymore! I had trouble getting her to try the stand up but not sure if her leaping up is what I want. Anyway, we will keep on trying! Thank you, Stacey
Definitely a big progress with heeling! Keep rewarding every few steps for now, going for precision first and only add duration later. Getting there with ball rolling, try releasing the ball now or, if they find it too hard to stay on, you can try putting it in a box or a bowl that will allow it to roll around, but on the same spot, without rolling out under their feet. Nice spinning too, slowly fade the hand. Great sit up to down -- the other direction is more difficult, so keep on working to get direct transition. Heidi’s sit up is just too cute! Leaping up is not perfect, but o.k. to start with. You can then try to slow it down by maybe using food instead of a ball? For backward figure 8, try to get them to circle your leg more, so that you don’t need to help so much that you step all the way over her/move him with your hand. Maybe you can try circling around you backwards first -- that should help with their independence. Happy training also after the ending of the class -- and I hope to see you in Foundation too!
Here is Cosi and my Lesson 6 video. I’m sorry we are late with it -- we were gone most of Saturday, and taped the tricks yesterday. I have a couple issues/questions with our progress:
1) Pick up and Hug trick -- should I not be rewarding her for her attempts, and only when she is successful? …I’m not sure if she is learning the wrong behavior when I reward the attempts…
2) Limping -- should I be rewarding her a different way, or only if she moves other feet at this point -- again, not sure…
As you can tell in the cik&cap clip, Cosi is really going to have to learn to prefer her toys to her food, this may be difficult, and I’m not sure how to do this 🙁 as she is VERY food motivated. Any suggestions?
I also should have picked up the hose in the yard before we taped so I wasn’t tripping over it and making it harder for her to heel 🙁 I will follow whatever you suggest for improvements to our performances, Silvia!
We are looking forward to making our final video for Puppy Tricks Class -It’s been a wonderful fun and learning experience to watch other videos and see other dogs and their people! 🙂
Cool! Great balance when rolling the ball and very cute sit up to down and back! Almost there with side legs too! Keep minimalizing body cues for left&right. For cik&cap, as always, you can’t just keep clicking as then a click doesn’t mean anything anymore -- you need to reward after every click! Try not bringing the treats at all, only bring a toy, play fetch and then throw in some cik&caps. Only reward with a toy, don’t mix treats in as then she wants treats, but I think she plays nicely without food distractions. And yes, for limping, you need to stop clicking the pawing. You can maybe click for still, low leg lift, as it’s hard to move other legs when she is raising the paw up so much. And once you have that, stop clicking for just a hold and wait for weight shifts or an other little moves of other 3 legs. For pick up and hug trick, you of course need to reward for any good attempt for now and jackpot when she is successful and then get more&more selective. For heeling, I would keep rewarding some more for now, to keep her head up all the time. Mix in many direction and tempo changes as that keeps her more attentive and keep rewarding some more for now. If her focus wanders off, immediately do something -- change direction or stop, so that she sees it’s important to stay focused all the time OR the handler disappears. Happy training!
Thanks Silvia! We will keep working on all these things 🙂
Hello Silvia!
here is our video for lesson6. We didn’t get all of it. Ayoka has still problems with ‘Sitting preatty’ without help. Think she needs some more time for growing and building muscles. To go on with the ‘hug’ and the ‘sit up to stand up’ , I helped her balancing a little bit.
No limping at the moment. But we worked on the ‘pee’ with a lower object and tried to get duration. This was very hard because she is very fast in putting her food down again!
We improved the ‘hug’ but up to now we didt’t try to pick the object up by herselve.
We had much fun in this class and are a little bit sad, that this is our last session! It has past so fast!
Getting there with a bowl into a bowl and peeing trick! Great 4in! Nice position with heeling! Keep building strength for sit up gradually. Meantime, you can work on one leg hug so that you can then progress to pick up to hug trick. Try several spins in a row too. Click and reward for little steps on a ball, not for standing still anymore because if they think it’s about standing still they will roll off the ball once it starts moving. Hope to see Ayoka again in next classes, it was fun to watch her grow from a small fluffy puppy on!
Thaks Silvia. We did the standing on the ball only at the beginning and than I clicked for any movements rolling the ball towards me. I helped her a little bit with my legs so the ball couldn’t go left or right. Is this o.k. for the moment? Your advice with the ball in a bowl seems very good. We will try this , too!
Ayoka can do several spins in a row, but after every spin she asks for a new command. Is this o.k or should she go on by herselve unless I stop her?
Sure we will ‘see’ us in next class!!! I don’t know if I should start Agility foundation with Roxy and do it later with Ayoka. We still have lots of work with the tricks out of ths lessons….;-) Do you already use many jumps in the Agility foundation course ?
Giving another cue for circling is o.k., just give it soon enough so that she doesn’t stop the circling. Foundation class starts with bars on the floor and brings them up very slowly (and especially slowly with young dogs), so it’s appropriate for puppies from 6th month on.
Hey Silvia! These tricks are great for photo shoots too! Thanks, Stacey, Rocket & Heidi
Too cute!!!
Took my hand out when I printed this one!