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 
Crossing Paws. Another work in progress. In this session I gave her little play breaks without toys, just using my hands and voice, and it seemed to perk her up and get some faster responses.
Very cute! Almost there! And yeap, she sure looks more perky in those last videos you posted as she did, you might soon regret what you wished for 🙂
Trumpet’s pivot, which I now realize I haven’t been doing right. What should I do differently to get a 360 turn? Stand further away from the dish? and click just one direction?
Yeap, try standing further, rewarding with a head turned away from you, not towards you and only clicking one direction for now until you get a full circle.
Crossing paws is still a struggle for Trumpet and I but we’re getting closer, lol. I tried using a spoon but he kept trying to grab it so I went back to the hand.
Did you try it in sit position? I think he is getting somewhat frustrated with this trick, so I’m just thinking how to help him. You are actually getting some really nice crosses already, but I don’t think he knows that’s the goal. Try to make a big deal out of those, jackpot the ones when he actually crosses, he even keeps the paws crosses for a while on one try.
I agree, and he seems to be clawing at me in his frustration. I did try in a sitting position and a standing position. In either one, he can’t seem to get his paw close to the other paw for a cross and he gets even more frustrated and claws me even more.
I’m going to try your suggestion of using a piece of paper for a target. I’ll use a little square post-it note that sticks. I can try sticking it to his other paw. That way he can hurt himself instead of me, lol.
I’ll need to pay more attention for opportunities to jackpot as well because you’re right, I don’t think he understands what I’m asking of him with this one.
We were not making good progress on the perch work, so I tried moving my position some and this helped but I think that I should not be doing this as it is considered “luring”?
Yes, moving around with her is definitely luring AND it reinforces her keeping her eyes on you even more, so it makes circling without your help even harder. So if you need to lure, I would actually prefer to lure with a real lure as with a movement… See Ana’s video and try to reward the way she does and the way she moves the hand away: it’s somewhat “lury”, but not that much that it would be hard to fade.
Hello together :-),
here our training status of pivoting and paw crossing.
This was the first time to get a full circle :-). But I think I must reward more in a row to get more speed. Or what do you think?
Here is another one on our discussion on clicking 🙂 -- Clicking several times after the action is not happening anymore is marking&rewarding the dog for standing still on a bowl… Maybe that’s why you get so much standing still: you are marking it after every circle. You can only click&reward several times in a row for duration (the dog is standing with 4 feet in a bowl the whole time for example) -- you can click&reward several times for action… Click the action and then jackpot it with as many treats as you want 🙂 -- but you can’t keep clicking for something that is not happening anymore…
So make sure you only click when she is moving on that porch. To me, she looks careful about not slipping off though, so you might get faster pivoting on less slippery or somewhat bigger object.
Great paw crossing! Now try clicking as she touches the other leg, not the target anymore and slowly fade the target into a hand signal.
Thanks for your feedback! But I have a problem. I’m to small to reward, if she goes the full circle. My arm is not long enough. What can I do?
Until now I marked very good try with clicking several times to say Page “yes, that’s was really good”. So I must controll myself to don’t do this any more ;-).
Definitely tell her when something was really good! -- With excitement in your voice and extra treats! It’s harder to reward with bigger dogs yes, try clicking when she is facing the other direction and then reward when her head is close enough that you can reward 🙂
Thanks I will try it today! 🙂
For the paw crossing. Which thing at first? Clicking the other leg with the target or fade the target into a hand signal for the current clicking leg? Or both?
And by the way… Silvia, your trick class is just amazing! I have really fun and Page loves it too. And I realize Page gets more and more fun when it’s clicker time! 😉
Thanks! I love those classes too, I’m learning a lot myself -- and seeing all the huge progress sure makes me happy over and over again! 🙂 First click for the other leg touches, then fade the target.
Now I have train the pivoting again with many treats for action and not for standing still. But she circles very slow with tiny little steps. The same problem with back up. Very tiny steps and not fast.
What can I do?
Many thanks in advance!
Did you also try bigger or less slippery object? That might help… Together with practice of course… I think the speed will come when she is more confident about it.
Yes, I have change the object, but I think she has not enough confident about it. I hope it will come. So do you mean it’s not so important that she makes it slow at the moment? I have the feeling that she is thinking a lot about the exercise.
Sure, that’s probably the reason, so yes, just let her do slowly -- and jackpot when she adds more speed. I’m sure she will when she is more confident about it.
Here is a new video with some progress in circling … It’s better when I not face the object, but stand up one side or other side of the object.
That’s quite a progress! It was good idea to not face the object! Keep working like this and make sure you click when she is still moving, not when she stops already.
is that the right way to do the “crossing paws?” and what about 2on2off?
as you can see I’m not able to do the exercise number 2. she doesn’t want to turn around that stuff.
at first she always turn just on the left way but now she dosn’t do anything. I’m really confuse.
Yeap, getting there with paws crossing! At this stage, don’t click touching you anymore, but touching the other leg when crossing it. For 2on2off, try sitting next to an object for now so that you can be quicker with the rewards and reward her in a position: for now, she thinks it’s about walking over that thing, you often click when she is off already. Try to click the moment she is still 2on and then also catch her in a position with a treat, then click&reward several times as she is standing there, then say “go” and reward leaving the position. You are also very late clicking the pivoting: every time when you clicked, she was completely static already. So it’s normal she thinks she needs to stand still. Go back to clicking every move and make sure she is really still moving when you click. When you get full circles back, click the moment she is facing the other way, not you as they often stop when they face you + that is not the position we want to reinforce.
This so far with the tricks.. the elephant trick; Vini has understood that she is to stand on the object and move rear legs but only to stand in position directly in front of me.. the paw crossing; she has understood to touch a target whereever it is -- getting there.. Sit Up we just started on, but she thinks she is to grab my arm with her paws.. Back Up we also just started on.. The 2o2o is the first attempt and that she figured out quite quickly (couldn’t find a more suitable object to stand on ;-)). I haven’t used toy as reward before this session so that’s why she looks at it weirdly at times 😉
Getting there with paw crossing! And nice frog in between 🙂 Quite some movement on pivoting too, keep rewarding with a head away to slowly get her out of the front position. For sit up, make sure she is sitting first and they try a paw target rather than a lure. And I would try it on less slippery floor, she keeps sliding away. Toy rewards seem to work really well, I would try to include more playing in between when working on other tricks too to keep her more animated -- especially the tricks she knows to some degree, you can easily reward with a toy. For 2on2off though, I think I would use it in a combination with food for now: first rewarding in a position with food so that she learns that she needs to stop and wait until the release -- and then rewarding the release with a toy as that’s easy to reward with a toy. When she knows to hold the position better, you can switch to rewarding her in a position with tugging.
thanks for feedback -- yes, Vini loves the frog trick -- she’s now stretching both rear legs 🙂
I will be traveling for a couple of weeks so we don’t get to train for a while..
And a very belated happy birthday -- hope you had a wonderful day 🙂
Tat’s 2o2o.
Great! Next, you can try sitting facing an object and rewarding her in both directions, so that she stops going in both directions.
Once I’ve got her going in both directions on this box, can I then switch to a “travel plank” that I have that is about 4 ft long?
Sure. I like to start with something like this object here so that they really learn the position independently from your body position/movement -- but once there, you can of course switch to a real plank.
I’ve tried your suggestion of facing the object but my dogs are turning into me and coming off the box on the side instead of at the end. How do I keep them going straight? I reward where I want their heads at, it’s not stopping the initial curling.
Hm… Can you sit so close that they can’t step off on your side?
I can try :-).
And Trumpet’s 2o2o. Trumpet does a “bow” at the bottom of the contact obstacles so he transferred that behaviour to here pretty quickly.
With me sitting:
and with me standing:
Very cool! Try the same thing as I wrote for Tat though: having him run back and fourth over the box, stopping in a position every time he goes over the box.
Great job, Louise! That’s quite a choir singing in the background 🙂 My dogs were very interested in joining! 🙂
Thanks Kathy, and my dogs were actually being rather quiet, lol. If I’m outside doing agility, they are literally screaming 🙂