As you did such a great job with your first homework, you're getting some more this time 🙂 I again marked the ones to focus on first. Post wherever you end up, we learn the most through problems, so you want to post those too! 🙂 So try to view other students' videos and my comments to them too!
1. experiment with different toys and ways to play with your dog. Tape his favourite game to give some new ideas to other participants (and me!!!). From my dogs, Le LOVES to chase things on a string, especially squeaky toys, plastic bags and everything else that makes sound! La hates squeaky toys, but goes crazy for real fur and ladder. Bi loves tugging - on anything BUT real fur, she finds it really gross and won't touch it. - Not that I would be trying in that direction either, only extra durable toys can handle her bite! Bu doesn't care so much about what toy we use, but she definitely wants ME involved: running and making silly noises. She also loves when she has a toy and I'm pretending I want to steal it from her, but am afraid to do so.
2. instead of a plate, find something a little higher this time to give them a better feeling of where to keep their front legs, click first for two front feet on an object (should be easy, you want the same thing as on a plate) and then observe hind legs and click for ANY movement (even just a weight shift) and then shape from there for more&more steps around the object. I first click both directions and once I get half of a circle in both directions, start clicking one direction only and reward with a head away from me in order to get a full circle - turning the head away from you in the hardest part, that's why you want to reward with head away at this point. The final goal are full circles in both directions, with you static (don't help the dog to circle with your movement!) - I think those that have my heeling video can already do that exercise, though 🙂
3. take the plate and hold it in different positions to see if the dog understands it's the same thing even when you hold it higher, under the angle, even vertical, to his left/right etc. Try when he is standing, sitting and lying down. If you didn't name touching an object with a paw, it's time to do it now! Also, try to change objects for this exercise, sometimes also use a hand as a paw target. Once he can do all that, you're ready for next two tricks we will get out of the paw touch:
- crossing paws: tell the puppy to down (or shape it if he doesn't know it yet), then hold the plate (or, you can use another, smaller and more convenient object, like a plastic lid or a piece of paper) close to the left paw and only reward touching it with left paw. Then hold it closer and closer to right paw, still only reward left paw touches, then hold it on right paw and eventually on the other side, jackpoting the touches of left paw on a right paw now in order to eventually get rid of a target.
- sit up: tell the puppy to sit (or shape it if he doesn't know it yet), then put the plate (or just use the hand if he will recognize that as a target) low enough first that he can reach it with a paw, but then every next time, hold it a little higher - not that high that he would stand up, but high enough that the other leg leaves the ground a little bit too. Jackpot. AGAIN, don't do too much of this exercise, it's great for building muscle, but it can also make them sore if you do too many repetitions every day!
4. observe your puppy and try to find situations when he would back up - it usually happens when they're moving out of your way - or sometimes when you're working on ignoring the food in the hand. You can try to sit down on the floor with treats in your hand and click first step back with hind foot. Don't wait for more than one as they usually sit down then. Click&reward the first step and reward by throwing a treat towards the dog. Rewarding at distance (by tossing a treat instead of giving it from your hand) will help you add more&more steps and more&more distance from you. At one point, switch to rewarding with a toy, it's easier to throw.
5. 2on2off - find an object big enough for the dog to go on with all 4 feet easily - maybe just put your first 4in object upside down? - Click for 2-3 legs on and then don't click the fourth one, you don't want any duration standing there! Only click again when the dog is leaving the object, try to catch him with 2 front feet on the ground and deliver the treat while he is still in this position. You want them go on an object and off immediately, stopping with front feet on the ground. Click&reward several times for a position, then say "go"/"o.k."/"free"/whatever your release word will be and throw a treat away so that he needs to leave the position to get it and click for leaving an object too. Do this enough times that the dog starts to expect the thrown treat after "go", so that then you don't need to throw it in advance, but only after he leaves the position on "go". Do not help with body language that you want him to leave after "go" - if he doesn't know it yet, go back to throwing a treat and progress more slowly.
Last call for 
I just love it when you’re trying to teach one trick and you end up with another, lol.
I was not getting any success with Tat in backing up because she lays down all the time (her default behaviour) so I couldn’t shape any backward movement. I would move into her and roll the treats towards and behind her but she just wasn’t getting it and kept laying down. So last night I tried again but this time in the bathroom on a hard floor (she doesn’t like to lie down on hard floors) and used a toy instead. FINALLY the lightbulb went on and I was getting a couple of steps backwards.
So…this morning I gave her another little session but on thin carpet. She laid down but still offered me some great backing up, but lying down!!! So I now I have nice scootch backwards 🙂
Too funny! And yes, many of the tricks my dogs know are their own ideas! Vault being La’s invention, scotching backwards and two-pawed “be ashamed” Bi’s ideas, side-legs limping being Bu’s idea etc. -- I often like their ideas better as my original plan, so I’m always flexible to teach some extra tricks on a way too 🙂
Silvia, I started perch training with Smores when she was almost 4 months old, we didnt train it every day. here’s where she was at by the end of Sept. I will keep working more on the right side this week.
Great! Very nice left side position, while right side could be tighter yes. You can maybe still work just the circling on a porch some and select for really smooth speedy pivoting, it’s a great rear end awareness exercise for growing puppies and I think it will help with right side position too.
oops here’s the video again
This is how much Trumpet likes this toy. All my dogs love this toy, but Trumpet can self-entertain for hours with it, lol.
🙂 Too funny!
what do you think? is that the right way to let her go around the object?
Wanda wouldn’t touch the plate when in down position. She doesn’t like that position so much. I tought that i could practice that position. than, maybe, click and reword any head movement in the plate direction and when she’ll get that shape her to do the same with her left paw. is that ok?
Great, really nice hind feet movements already. You’re getting more than enough movements that there is no need to move with her: the more you move with her, the more you reinforce her staying in almost front position to you, while we actually want her to take her eyes off your hand and turn away from you to do a whole circle on her own. To get that, start rewarding with a head turned away from you. Hide your hands behind your back so that she is not staring at them so much and when you reward, reach in quickly and deliver the reward so that her head is turned right if she is circling to the left and and the other way around.
Would she touch a plate in a sit position? If so, you can start with that and try it in down too, clicking for any attempts in the right direction and then build to the real touch.
This is how wanda play.. on her own….
she doesn’t like to play very much with human, she likes to go after with the intent to chatch lizards and cat =D
Maybe you should get a toy that Trumpet has, he is doing the same thing with snakes and that toy, so maybe she would play with that too and you can become a part of the game. Try to put a toy like Trumpet has or another lizard-like toy (or maybe some real fur?) on a string and pull it around in a quick, unpredictable way, just as a lizard would move and see if you can get her interested in that. Finding a way to play together is a very important part of building the bond with the dog, so I would definitely try to get her insterested. She obviously has a chasing instinct, so something fun on a string might really work for her!
Here’s some video of Star playing with her dragon. She loves to make lots of noise and sounds very fierce, but she is not getting overly aroused or excited. She can disengage very quickly when asked. If a different dog sounded like that I’d be concerned, but that’s just Star!
Very cute! And she sure talks a lot!
And here’s Star’s 4 in the bowl work from last night. I’m pretty pleased with her progress and how hard she’s working to balance.
Deb
Great progress and really great balance! Looks ready for a smaller bowl 🙂
A question for all my classmates about pivoting around an object. I haven’t done any of this before. The problem that Secret is having is that she thinks the point is to turn the object over. She does not nicely leave her two paws on the object. She only does one paw at a time and she “rakes” at the object until it turns over. She is fully grown and over 30 lbs, so I need a big, heavy object. Any suggestions on what to use and how to get both paws on the object? And stop the turning over?
Thanks!
Hi Robin
I am new to this too. What about a brick? If it is too small, what about two pavers on top of each other? That would be a heavy item. I guess you would have to be super quick C/T before she can start ‘raking’
I wonder what Silvia will suggest. 🙂
I’ve used a round patio brick for my Border Collie in the past--worked great and un-moveable, un-tippable.
A brick or dog food container full of food maybe? Also, try to stand up for this exercise and reward high so that her weight is on a rear end and she can’t push the object around.
Last night I used a round dog food container that was about 18″ tall and12″ in diameter. I think that the added height made it easier to understand. Also the tip to reward high to keep the weight on the rear end. It was extremely successful and fun.
Yay! Very cool!
Hi everybody,
this is our first few sessions of circling around an object -- in fact I already know after reading the other postings that I was luring way too much! The video is on faster speed as except for tail wagging not many things happened -- she tried 4on or started singing, but no sign that she had the slightest clue what I want from her. Will be a good training for my patience, too!
That tail in fast forward is hilarious! What a fun puppy! And yes, you lure too much and want too much 🙂 You are actually getting tons of movement -- maybe not to the side just yet, but forwards and backwards. Start with those and then select for side movement. And yes, this trick really takes a while. If you get a full circle in 2 weeks, that’s great! Expecting it much sooner as that is pretty unrealistic…