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 
No significant progress with circling during these 5 days … Garlic is like trying dancing !
It looks like you’ve teach her new fanny trick, and she is doing it perfectly 🙂 So probably she don’t even think about changing the movement as she is rewarded for this one. I wonder if it is the same if you stand in front of her?
I tried with an higher object, or I stand up in front of her too or rewardsing from another direction …
And… How did it go? I would definitely try standing up and rewarding with a head turned away AND stop clicking up and down movements at that point and only reward side movement. If you don’t get enough of side movement, try rewarding by tossing a treat away for now, if often makes them move sideways when they get back to the target.
Training for sitting up -- the verbal cue will be “hands up” (Hände hoch), as I have it for the 2 other dogs, too, and would love to see three dogs raise paws upon cue and then “shoot” them 😉 For now, I use my flat hand as visual cue to put her paw in it and she seems to understand it.
Bisou is not yet remaining in sitting position and she is still touching my hand -- I am planning to raise the hand as soon as she remains seated…
Great, getting there! As always, the easiest way to add duration is to try rewarding her in a position, while sitting up (even if she is leaning on your hand some).
A little bit of trouble with the “cross paws”-training -- Bisou only touches the target with the left paw when it is on the left side. As soon as I move it closer to the right paw, she puts both. Plus she keeps standing up.
Is there anything I could improve?
Yeah, not an easy one with active, always moving puppies 🙂 How about using a cooking spoon or something that you can hold on more exact place and move it slowly in the right direction? I think she will stop offering right paw if you never click it.
Bisou is doing a good job with the “back up” training -- this is the second training session and she moves back already a few steps.
Very cool! She will need more room soon!
Papu’s pivoting looks much like Garlic’s: he seems to be dancing too. I was quite surprised as he did this before quite nicely. I guess he’s mixing this with 4 in a box exercise as he puts all his weight on the front feet. Now that I read other’s comments I noticed I should be standing instead of sitting -- that’s also how we’ve done it before. So I’ll try that and post another video later. He’s just a short clip.
“Here’s just a short clip” is what meant to say.. 🙂
You get something like me ! I tried also to mask rewards because she is always expecting rewards from a direction.
Yes, I think standing up will make it easier, he definitely seems to be thinking about 4in 🙂
Crossing paws : even if lying down position is not confortable for Garlic, I expect to get it better soon !
Great! Almost there! She looks so deliberate and focused on her paws, it’s too funny!
It is just like I was watching my dog 😉 But after he cross one paw he immediately “correct” the position with second one and we start to make a circle :/
You can try it next to the wall as crossing actually gets harder after the dog moves the other leg…
Great idea, thanks, will try!
Hello Renata,
I have try it and it works! 🙂
Hello Silvia and classmates,
here our first video of lesson #2 tricks :-):
I have problems to find the right object for circling, because some objects are not so stable. So I took for the first step our clothes basket ;-). Do you think this is to big?
Sit up we trained before. However Page can not hold the position for a long time. And I find it so pretty if she would take her paw in the air. Like Andre and his beagle do it, so sweet! But how can I train this?
By crossing paws she take her right leg and I train now first this side. I hope this will be ok. She is doing well, but sometime she crawl to the side. I follow her with the target, but I think she should be on one position, or?
Thanks for any comments! 🙂
Good that you posted your video to show what I mean by rewarding with a head turned away: you can see it in Mona’s video, that was a good way to reward! You are getting quite some movement already. Standing up might make it easier to get even some more. Once you get close to full circle, it would also be good to switch to a smaller object so that she can circle on really one spot, I hope you can find something appropriate.
For a sit up, teaching it with a target like explained will give you front legs up in the air. But it makes adding duration even harder as their balance is challenged even more that way, so maybe you can first add duration by rewarding in a position like this and then use a target to get higher legs.
And yes, it doesn’t matter with which leg you start the crossing, I just wanted to say that you only click one leg now. If the dog is moving too much, you can set her next to the wall so that she can’t move because if she is moving away, it makes crossing harder.
Thank you Silvia for your feedback! I will try it like your description! 🙂
Hi Silvia & classmates,
Here is our first video for this lesson with playtime, pivot work & crossing paws. We took a little break from trick training as Zephyr was just not into it for a few days. 🙁 But he seems to be enjoying it more now--not sure why he was so disinterested--maybe the vaccine he got last week?
Silvia, should I start only clicking for one direction with the pivot now? He is taking more steps both ways but I don’t want to get stuck here & am wondering where the balance is between getting stuck & asking for more and not have him shut down & lose interest. With Zephyr, I feel I’m always right on the edge of him shutting down. 🙁 He’s very different to train than Elsa, that’s for sure, but I’m learning a lot…and having FUN!
Thanks!
Hallo Kathy,
cool, very nice paw crossing. I find Zephyr doing very well! Your hand target work really great.
The circling is also very cool. I’m nosy about Silvia’s comment about the clicking only for one direction now.
Thanks, Mona! I like using my hand for a target because I’m not coordinated enough to hold a target & the clicker & treat at the same time… 🙂
Great job! He looks pretty motivated to me and keeps pivoting really well even when you don’t reward for a while, so I think he is just being a puppy, it’s normal they need more feedback and higher frequency of rewarding as adult dogs, so just keep your reinforcement rate high… -- it’s better to get somewhat stuck as to loose interest 🙂 Great job with pivoting, I think you’re very close to a full circle already, so you can stop rewarding one direction for a while yes to get that full circle. Very cute paw crossing too!!! You can mix in lots of playing in tricks sessions too, maybe that will make him like it better?
Thanks, Silvia! I’ll try mixing in more playing with shaping tricks. Guess I’m not used to doing that 🙂 With Elsa, if I mixed in play, she would go over the top & not be able to concentrate on anything else after that. 🙂 Dogs are so different from each other but I guess that’s why training is so much fun! 🙂 It’s so cool to figure out what makes each of them happy to work!
Thanks again!!
Yeap, every dog is a new learning experience, that’s for sure! And I found most BC puppies when they’re still in the fluffy phase to be somewhat short focused and not just as intense as PyrSheps at this age for example. Together with their legs, their focus lengthens and when the puppy fur is off, they become some REAL fun to work with 🙂
Oh, that’s good to hear! And nice to know that there will be a good tradeoff for when he hits the “all legs, awky, gawky” stage… 🙂 I will miss the cute fluffy puppy though! They grow up too fast! 🙂
Here is a video of our playing. I named it part 1, as I hope to film some other type of play as well. It just so dark outside these days (we live in Finland) so it’s quite hard to find time when there’s still enough daylight for filming…
In this video we’re just tugging. It took quite long time for Papu to learn to tug, but now he’s really enthusiastic about it. He also likes to chase things so I try to get another video of him chasing something.
Yeap, he sure looks very enthusiastic about it now! Very cool! Can you now also switch from food to toy rewards and back?
Unfortunately not very well. Papu seldom wants to play during our clicker training sessions. And if I can get him to play, he does it only half-heartedly so it’s easy to tell he would rather keep on working and earning the food rewards. Any suggestions for that?
Try always playing first, then go to a treat session so that he will know playing is leading to food and is not interrupting it. Then try finishing his treats, show him it’s all gone and then try to play some: if he doesn’t want to, just finish the session and if he likes it, play some more and then maybe even do some tricks for some extra treats, so that he can see he can actually prolong the session that way. Once he gets that, switching from one to another gets really easy and it’s sure great for agility trainings.
Thanks! I’ll try that. 🙂
How do I load a video? I tried giving you the website address where I posted a video, but that doesn’t seem to have worked. Do i also have to upload the video?
This is the address:
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Thank you.
Mary Klein
But that’s the video I already commented… Did you see my reply?
To embed the video, httpv only works for YouTube. For other videos, only put http.