I think we're ready for the next list!
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 then 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"
Very cool Lesson 🙂
Cool indeed, but have to do a lot of work, don’t master the pivoting and circle to my leg.. also the peetrick is still hard. So lots to do here……
Silvia, does it have to be a narrow pole, or could it be something wider, like a large cardboard tube?
Sure, you can use something like that too. But I like to use long enough object at first that I can keep my hands away. People often go directly to handling an object to the dog, but I prefer to shape a dog to come to the object 🙂
Sorry, another question--as you know I am starting class late (having so much fun the last few days, my dogs and I all thank you!!)--should I wait until we can do “sit up” independently before starting this one?
You mean before starting the hug? You don’t need a sit up to get the hug, I always shape it all the way in a sit position and only try it in a sit up when I have a nice, firm grip in sit position.
Okay, thank you.
About homework #1: One of my dogs is slow in agility. We already cheer her on with “RUN!” when she’s doing crazy laps around the yard, so tonight I said it while she was running to her spot for dinner and she put on so much speed she skidded across the floor. I am very excited to see if this will help her in agility!
Great! Creating a really strong magic word can definitely do wonders in agility!
Silvia, would you write your “magic word”, ajde, phonetically? I’m very curious to know what it sounds like! It’d be extra magic for me to use your word.
Huh, that’s a difficult question… It’s pronounced as “ride” without “r” at the beginning + long “e” like in “emotional” at the end.
Thanks! You answered it perfectly! Cookies for you!!
Oh my… I probably have to give some Valium to the puppy to make her stay in 2on2off… Up to now, I have no idea how to make this puppy stay with distractions, she doesn’t even stay without 😉
I also couldn’t tape our visit to the pet store, because she was going crazy at all the smells 🙂 She was pulling on the leash like a Rottweiler…
Just keep it really short and frequency of rewarding really high -- makes things much easier 🙂
Oh these tricks are getting challenging now!! I’m afraid I will fall behind. I’m leaving for Florida tomorrow (2400km away!) with two of my dogs to compete in the AKC Agility Invitational while the rest of my dogs are going to the sitters, so no training for them for at least a week :-(. We’ll have out work cut out for us when we get back!!
Louise, good luck at the invitational. How exciting!
That’s a really long drive! But very exciting to run there, good luck!!! I’m sure you’ll catch up when coming back, those are not that difficult as it sounds 🙂
Before hitting the road I did want to mention what Tat did in obedience class last night. There was a broken down dogwalk leaning up against the wall and before class started we were just standing next to it and Tat put her front paws on the top of the leaning plank and started walking down the entire length of it keeping her front paws on it and her rear paws on the ground. Of course I followed her and kept treating her and she repeated it again going to other way :-). And after class when I was putting my coat on, there was a chair on the ground and she kept stepping on that with her rear feet, lol. I love what a “tricks” dog can offer you when you don’t even ask for anyting.
BTW Silvia, I wanted to mention that I loved your editorial in Clean Run. Very well said!
I know, I love how creative tricks dogs are! When Le was a puppy, she felt a need to do her recent tricks all the time. When we were working on her side legs, she would do it any time when I was standing next to an object, like a tent at agility trial… Or when she came to the sofa to cuddle, she would just put side legs on the pillow. I actually never rewarded as I mostly never had treats on me, but obviously, laughing at it was enough that she would just keep doing it.
And thanks! It was actually not written for the editorial at all, but just as a post for this site and they wrote me if they can use it 🙂 Hope it was not too out-of-context for those not knowing this site, my dogs and their problems 🙂
Byrdie recently learned to “play dead” and now whenever he doesn’t know what to do, he just keels over. 🙂
Before we all dive into training the new set of tricks, I wanted to say “thank you” to everybody. Your videos and posts have been so helpful! I get new ideas every time somebody posts- like the paint can for a high target. Between that and Silvia’s comments I feel like we are really making progress! 🙂
Silvia, I started working with Dash today on the Week 4 tricks. I noticed a side-effect of this class is that Dash has become quite frantic to put his feet on things. We’ve used many different props in practice (every bowl I own, cardboard & plastic boxes, bricks, etc.), so he thinks anything on the floor is meant to be stood on with 1, 2 or 4 feet. The negative effect is that he’s constantly backing up to people and trying to climb them with his back legs… or pawing at things…or sees something on the floor and tries to do “4-in” while whining to get my attention.
This has presented an issue with bowl stacking. Dash already has a great retrieve. Today, I started with a mini-tennis ball and a medium-sized mixing bowl, sitting on the ground with Dash. He retrieved, but as soon as he saw the bowl, he frantically started doing 4-in… 2-in… pivoting… 1-in…and back to 4-in. He’ll pick up the ball and hold it while doing all the footwork, but he’s sure the trick is something about feet.
I clicked a few times when he had his head over the bowl, and this did make him drop the ball in it. But he had at least one foot in the bowl too, and now he’s even more convinced that this trick is about feet.
In fact, in about 50+ trials, he got a foot in every time. I tried holding the bowl off the ground, using different bowls or toys, grabbing the bowl away every time he lifted a foot. But either he insists on putting in his foot… or gives up in frustration.
So right now what I have is: Dash picks up ball, runs to bowl (in my hands), tries frantically to put a foot in the bowl while I repeatedly snatch the bowl out of his reach, then he drops the ball on the floor where the bowl had been a moment before.
What can I do to communicate to him that this trick is NOT concerned with his feet? Thanks!
P.S. Our trick show went great on the weekend. Dash successfully did all of his 10-12 tricks and performed for a standing-room crowd of 600 disabled people and their families. Not bad for a nine month old puppy who had only practiced in a bedroom!
Great to hear that the show went so well! And yes, that’s a common problem with stacking bowls trick, but it usually helps if you hold it in your hand. Now, if it doesn’t help with him, I would probably go for simply putting a ball into your hand first, then go to holding a piece of paper in the hand so that he is retrieving to a piece of paper, then to a cardboard, then to a plate -- still in your hand first, but then slowly holding it lower and eventually putting it on the floor -- and then finally trying it with a bowl too. Should be easy that way!
Thanks--I’ll try that!
Another thing that I wanted to comment is that whining for attention. Do other people see that too? With my puppies, I have the same approach as I teach here and I sincerely never see this. I often have people ask me if my dogs constantly open and slam my doors etc. -- and it actually NEVER happens… Le had a period of doing her last trick all the time, but I really think it was not to get my attention or to earn a reward as 1.) I never rewarded it 2.) she did it also when she didn’t know I’m watching, for example when playing with Bi -- that’s why I found that habit so strange. Apart from that, my dogs really behave like normal dogs and outside training sessions, they will either play with each other (Bi and Le) or just sleep on a sofa (Bu and Bi) or follow me around the house (La and Le), but without pushing for working or doing tricks when not asked to. They do LOVE it when it’s time for tricks or agility and they do get a kind of nervous before that time if they know when it’s coming, but they really NEVER do the whining thing you describe, so I’m curious to hear if other dogs in this class are doing that too, would like to find a pattern what we’re doing differently. For example, my training sessions are well defined and have an obvious beginning and the end, I will work with puppies for their meal, four times a day with food + some playing sessions in between. I will start a session by taking a clicker and treats/toy and call the dog and I’ll end it by saying “that’s all” and calling the next dog. How do you all start&end your training sessions and are you getting the whining Sharon describes or not?
No -- I can’t say Pippa whines in between training sessions, even though she loves her training sessions above everything else. She gets all excited and starts spinning and barking the second I pick up treats and clicker and say “Want to train?”. She’s so close to me I’ve practically fallen over her more than once! 🙂 I have to be careful at the end of the session and have her tug toy and squeaky toy right there, or she will displace onto the other dogs (one is very old) and jump on them. BUT -- if we are not training or calming down after training, she will play by herself or just follow me around to be in the same room. We don’t have a real “schedule” -- just at some point in the morning and afternoon I’ll get stuff together and say “Want to train?”. Play sessions tend to be very, very short. A break between computer time and dishwashing say. Most of our play is during our long walk. We do that daily, sometimes with a friend, sometimes just the three active dogs.
I’ve always started by going to the cupboard where the treats are and saying “Are you ready?” (Answer: barkbarkbarkbarkbark!) and end by letting them lick the hand that’s been holding the treats, so they know we’re done. The licking kind of calms them down, too. I don’t get whining in between.
Hmm, Bisou does some whining during the tricks, mostly if she gets frustrated, but today also when being successful. Maybe I do not wonder so much about the whining, as Tibetians “speak” a lot in general… both young dogs follow me as soon as I pick up the clicker and some food, but they do not get frantic, no barking, only very focussed and interested what we will be doing next. Anyway I would not even start the session in that case, because like many breeds, Tibetians are fast in becoming a plague with barking and whining, I try to keep them as quiet as possible, because I have one barky little monster already. You will see it in the following video, the other one wants to work, too, but no excessive barking or whining.
This is our first attempt with the pole -- I did not add music, so you can hear her ‘comments’ 🙂 And the whining surely was not because she did not understand what to do, in fact she got it from the first second and so the rewarding frequency was high from the start. There were some distractions by the other dogs (bad Szia even snapping at her), but she is used to it, as we often train in the doggy play hall with companions around and she snaps at every other dog except for Szia disturbing her during work.
The only thing I realized is that both dogs are a lot less interested in toys anymore, Szia brings back what I throw but for food and not for fun. In the Playtime-Video from the beginning, I taped Bisou fetching the food dummy -- today I played with her as preparation for the bowl stacking and she went after it, touched it, but immediately came back to me, always watching my hands. Occsionally, she brought it halfway -- if I did not react or just say “go get it”, “where is it” etc, she offered her favorite tricks but seems to have forgotten about the dummy. When I move it over the floor, she follows and is eager to get it, but when I throw, she doesn’t retrieve it. Could very well be my fault, except for my first Tibetian, none of them was crazy for toys, sticks or frisbees -- food was always more important. Sometimes it is really bad, as I do not get full speed sending Szia eg through the weave channel. I am scared Bisou will be the same when I start Agility with her -- I found it sometimes difficult to have a dog that prefers food to toys, during a seminar, the dog will be fully fed in the first break…
Maybe Bisous non-retrieving is linked with the same problem that Dash & Sharon have, too -- Bisou is so foot-focussed, that when I was training Szia to hold the bowl in the muzzle, she jumped in the bowl -- 40cm away from the ground -- only to be able to get the paws in. Muzzle is no alternative for her at the moment. But she has a favorite toy, that little plush thing at the end of the longe and whenever she can steal it somewhere, she runs away with it. But she takes it in her mouth at least…
Wow, Bisou is so good already in hugging the pole! And she sure is cute! 🙂
Papu is whines quite a lot, especially before we go out or when he knows he’ll get a bone to eat. He also sometimes whines while doing the tricks, mostly in the beginning when he doesn’t know what to do and gets frustrated. I’m not sure if it would help to teach him to whine on cue as then he would maybe better notice what he’s doing. Teaching him to bark on cue has certainly helped a great deal and he’s mostly a very quiet dog -- to be a Swedish Vallhund that is… 😀
Papu does not offer tricks all the time but teaching him nose touch had a funny side effect: he keeps poking his nose on things! He pokes everything I leave on the floor and loves to drop things from the coffee table by poking them until they fall down. I can’t help laughing at him which probably encourages him (although he also does is when he doesn’t know I’m watching). He also pokes my legs, but that I don’t like as it could easily develop into a nip and I know a few Swedish Vallhunds with serious nipping problems. So I stop playing or what ever I was doing if he pokes my heels. Teaching paw target has not had any effect on nose poking so far, but let’s see if it will.
What a cute hug! 🙂
As for keeping toy drive… I make sure to have separate play sessions only with puppies and don’t use any food in those sessions. Eventually, those sessions become agility sessions as you’re right, toys are much more useful for agility as food! So definitely keep working on a toy drive too, giving her just two options: either play or another dog gets his turn.
Hi Silvia,
I should have noted that Dash has only done the 4-in and whined to get me to look at him a couple of times. He’s generally a very well-behaved and extremely silent puppy. It’s just when he “thinks” that it’s time to train or hopes to lure me into training him that he will start responding to things on the floor by doing 4-in, 2-on, etc. 🙂
Ah, o.k., I was afraid he is now whining and asking for attention all the time and was afraid others have the same problem… -- we certainly wouldn’t want that!!!
Very cool, Dash & Sharon! That was a BIG audience for a small dog 🙂
Yes, my puppy is also really foot-focussed at the moment, hope there is a trick against it, too 😉 We didn’t yet dare to start the stacking trick.
Hi Silvia,
Ruby sometimes does the pee trick with her left rear leg, but has no concept when I try to make her do it with the other foot. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Amelie
Try bringing her to a 2on2off object from a diagonal, so that her left leg is too far from an object to first step on with the left leg and she needs to use the right one. They usually have a preference for which leg to start with, but it’s important they learn to use both and bringing them to an object diagonally requires just that. Hope it works!
Silvia,
I’m getting a good “2 side feet” up on a tall platform from Dash. However, if I move the narrow platform away from the wall, he tries to get on with all 4 feet. (He’s tiny, so can do this even on a 2 cm wide platform). Can I try holding out a long stick as the target that he should touch with his feet?
Sure, you could try a stick… -- or simply removing a platform (or making it even more narrow) and try it against the wall -- that’s the next step anyway 🙂
Thanks, I will try it again. In the past she just circled backwards to avoid touching the 2on2off with the other leg.
Amelie