Wow, it's your 5th lesson already! I hope you had great holidays and you are all ready for your new list:
1. heeling: make the "glued to the leg" exercise more like heeling: still do different kind of turns, but also some normal forward walking in different speeds (slow, normal, fast) to teach them to adjust and keep the right position in every situation
2. figure 8 backward: tell the dog to go into heel position and start spinning as we were doing on the target, then very suddenly stop and step back with the other leg (if the dog is at left side - with right leg), you can also make a gesture with a left hand to try to get them to keep circling below the heeling position, eventually all the way around your leg, so that they come backwards between your legs back into front position. If the dog insists on staying in heel position, you can help with the hand a little bit, lure his head out (left for 90 degrees if the dog is on left side) and say back to have them back up in your direction. Step back with the other leg enough to have them back up between your legs. Reward and tell them to heel on the other side (right) and repeat the process. As soon as you get some smoothness with that, stop rewarding for coming in between, always first tell them to come to the other leg and reward at your side in order to avoid having them back up too far - they need to stay very close to your legs all the time.
You can see the steps at 2:51 of this video:
3. skateboarding: try to find a skateboard (kids department) and reward for making it move with front feet. Don't reward 4on, but 2 or 3, the criteria is they make a skateboard move.
4. cik&cap: find a table leg, dog-food container, traffic cone or similar and shape the dog to go around it - first just a step, then two or three circles, both directions (ideally, reward both right from the start if you are getting it - if not, start with just one, but then on one session, don't reward that direction anymore but wait for the other)
5. fade the object for side legs: if the dog is already heaving both legs up at the same time, click&reward that before he even touches the object, so that he understands the idea is picking them up, not touching something. At the same time, try changing objects as much as possible. Going to vertical objects shouldn't be too difficult, then go to "empty" objects like a chair that looks like an object, but doesn't really offer much support, so at this point, the dog is already free-standing, the object is just there for mental support. Next step in a table leg and then you don't need an object anymore. For a free handstand, you go through the same process, only that it takes longer as it's physically more demanding - you can start working on it, but do not rush it, especially not with young puppies!
6. don't forget on recalls and playing, stays with distractions (you can combine it all in a really fun game), try the hug on a plastic bottle or something similar that is light enough for the dog to hold it and have them hold it independently, add more steps to backing up from you, tape the 4in the bowl trick again so that I can see to what size you managed to get: the smaller the better!
And most importantly: have fun!
Here is Vera practicing putting the ring on the stick. She is doing really well! In this one, she is a bit distracted because the cat is trying to get into her treats and tuggie behind me, but still she was doing her best to persevere. At this point, I am trying to help her less and less, by letting her figure out how to use her paw to stabilize the stick.
Great! She is definitely showing a really good understanding and is trying really hard! Love the additional challenge of stabilizing it with a paw, I have to get one of those toys too!
Had such an awesome training session with Sammy today. TWO breakthrough moments. He offered me two side legs (left ones) without a target -- it’s such a cool trick. Now we just got to get the right side without the target. He is offering nice touches to the wall.
Then I when I sat on the ground and put him in a down he immediately offered me the crossed paws.
Am so excited with his progress. 🙂
Sounds great!!! Those breakthrough moments are always magic!
Silvia,
I’ve started on the backwards weaving with nothing on the floor (no plate or bowl). I’ve also stopped luring for most tricks, but finding it hard to give up the lure with this one…
To Dash, “pivot” means to pivot alone on a plate (no lures) or sit pressed against my leg (no lures) or walk next to my leg (some luring). But when there’s a leg nearby, but only empty space to pivot into--the space between my legs--he gets obviously confused about what to do. There’s no bowl… and there’s no leg.
With a lure turning his head a bit, Dash will pivot between my legs from one side to the other, while his front feet stay relatively stationary. However, if I ask for the pivot with no lure, he has no idea what to do.
Tonight I tried putting a bowl on the floor, straddling the bowl with my legs very wide, and asking him to pivot. Because of the strange position, he didn’t understand he could pivot while I loomed over him. 🙂 However, I think he’ll eventually figure out that he can pivot there. Is this a good way to get him pivoting for the back weaves without using a lure?
Or is there a better way? I think you said some luring was okay for the back weaves, but I’d prefer to avoid it if possible. I’m like a recovering addict when it comes to luring…
Thanks!
P.S. Here’s a photo of Dash doing 4-in at his trick show for 600 disabled people and their families a couple weeks ago.
And another photo of him rolling in on his spool. 🙂
Looks great! He looks like a perfect dog for the shows, he is just so pretty!
Yeap, this one is really easier with some head-turning lure. 🙂 You can try it with a bowl. -- Or circle with him at your side very quickly, then suddenly stop and click&reward any additional step back, towards behind your back, so that he learns leaving the heeling position is o.k. now -- it’s somewhat confusing at the beginning. When trying this, you don’t even need to worry about your legs and first go for a circle around your (both) legs and when he can do that, it’s easy to go for figure 8 too.
Happy new year to all of you! Bisou recovered from the teeth surgery and we are back in Germany again, so time for a new video 🙂
She very often offers 2 feet up when there is some target, but seems we are not ready to proceed to no target yet -- if I do, she does try but keeps jumping to the other side as she lost balance. She does lift the front paw and leans to the other side, but I rarely get simultaneous lift, so I continue with target. Not so sure why she struggles as she does not lean much to the side targets. She also offers it on my leg sometimes, so I will continue from there as suggested.
Most surprising to me was figure 8 backward -- after heeling, I thought to just give it a try -- this is her first time and she just did it 🙂
And heeling is for me like a huge gift -- I passed basic obedience test (Begleithundeprüfung) with two dogs before and we succeeded -- but it was not comparable to what Bisou offers already at 6 months. Can’t wait to register for some Schutzhund exams when she is old enough 😉
Her heeling sure is beautiful! Always great to see a not-a-working-breed doing so well, I’m sure she get lots of attention at Schutzhund exams! Great side legs too, just keep fading the target gradually. For 2on2off, I would wait some more before fading the target as it’s a hard one and you don’t want to overdo it with a young puppy. Amazing figure 8 backwards for a first session! 🙂 To get full hugs, I think you will need to go for one paw to get a complete, all the way around hug. Getting there with bowl stacking and great 4in too! 🙂 Don’t forget to vary where you put teh other bowl, so that she learns all approaches, can be hard sometimes if they get used to just one direction 🙂
Great back weaves! Will you trade for a slightly used Papillon that has nice 2o/2o but can’t do back weaves? 🙂
Hahaha, thanks for the offer, I will probably get back to you when she won’t stop jumping on tables, unasked in peoples laps, over 1,10m high walls and stealing food whenever possible. 5.5kg of fuzzy disaster and already in brat stage… Maybe you want to re-think it? 😉
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lovely!!!!!!
Pivot/heeling has been a slow process for Tat. I finally got some full circles and have now switched from a 4″ high bowl to a simple disc. My problem now is trying to keep her two front paws on the disc while we pivot. She tends to only leave one paw on.
With Trumpet it gets worse, lol. He’s all over the place. We really lack in precision. I have a hard time keeping him straight, and accurate, and he sits a lot. He’s a nice heeler when we do regular obedience heeling, but when I shape the pivot he gets a little over-eager and sloppy. I’m not sure how to fix it and I don’t think we can advance to the next step from here.
Tat’s pivoting looks great to me! Don’t worry about one paw off the target, you want to get rid of it anyway and it’s actually good she is not too focused on staying on as it will be easier to fade it! I would go to a piece of paper or carpet next and try to circle off of it and have her follow your leg even with no target under her feet. She sure looks ready for that step!
I also like Trumpet’s speed and enthusiasm and I think his position is actually great, not sure what you don’t like about it? He sometimes gets lost, but mostly keeps a really great position. It’s also no problem if he is sitting down, that’s fine. Looks ready for the next step to me!
Oh okay :-). I just feel Trumpet is frenzied and if I don’t click quickly he starts offering other stuff. It doesn’t feel smooth. So on to the next step! Thanks Silvia.
Frenzy often feels sloppy, but I think he is actually very precise -- until he starts offering other stuff 🙂 If you didn’t name it yet, it’s definitely time to do so now so that he knows he is doing the right thing.
And here is Trumpet’s Side Legs. This is coming along nicely. Tat still needs more practice.
Great!!! Those are really nice free standing side legs! I think he is ready for a chair!
I have a quick question. I have been working with Vera a lot on heeling and pivoting. Her pivoting is quite good in either direction, even without a bowl to stand on. Now I am trying to get her to follow my leg closely when I walk but she is lagging behind. She catches up when I stop and then gets into a sit, but when I walk she is very slow and no where near where she is supposed to be. How do I do this, teach her to stay in the heel position even when I am walking? I try coaxing her to me. I also thought maybe I could just walk around and click and reinforce when she gets somewhat in the right position. Any suggestions would be very appreciated.
Don’t go from circling directly to walking forward! Try to first make “bigger” circles, meaning there is a forward component too, but you’re still turning some with every step, to make it look more like a previous exercise. Start of with big turning component and little forward motion and then add more&more of it with every next step -- but VERY gradually. Try some side ad back steps too, I master all that before I start walking normally. When she looks glued to the leg in all those cases, start with one step forward -- reward -- one step -reward -- then slowly add two, three etc. The more gradually you go the easier it will be to keep the perfect position that we worked so long to get it! No need to rush it now!
What I realized when teaching bowl stacking -- for Bisou I think it was useful to watch my other dog learn the trick. At first, Bisou was really confused what to do, always trying paws, just like others described. My other dog knows the command “bring it” so it was easy to teach her this trick, she just needed to understand to drop in into the other bowl which was done in 2 sessions. I let Bisou watch Szias sessions and when it was Bisous turn, she did not insist on feet like the session before, but picked the bowl up, so I guess she must have understood this from watching that this is not about paws but muzzle.
I wish she would copy more DESIRED behavior 😉
They can certainly learn some with observation! I definitely noticed it with attitude and recalls.
I’m finding this true also. I especially find it interesting that it’s not always the young dogs learning from the older dogs but sometimes the other way around. 🙂 Elsa, who never could understand bowl stacking when we did the Puppy Class last spring, has been watching puppy Zephyr catch on to bowl stacking & was very interested. So I set her up with the bowls & voila! she got it! Very cool! 🙂
Amazing! Really cool!
Thanks Silvia that really helps! I am going to go back and start turning bigger circles right now like you said. That is so helpful.
Cik&Cap alias Tic&Tac : I restart learning it from scratch, so I hope to get more independant, and double/triple circles and speed …
( Garlic prefers Tac direction !!! )
Silent, no verbal cue, no body mouvement :
And with cue :
Uh, you actually don’t want to use such a wide object as in the second video. The object in a first video is much better, despite at this stage, even thinner pole would be even better as you could look for details like bending of the back around it. You don’t need to add distance to this exercise, those are two different exercises: one is called multi-wraps and that’s what we’re doing here, having them circle several times. The purpose of this exercise is to get the tightness. Once this is good, I introduce the second exercise (and then work on both on each height) that is called wrap&go and the purpose of that exercise is distance, sends, commitment and speed. Both exercises are equally important, but I always start with tightness first.
Thanks, so I will start with multi-wraps with tightness from now : not too late !!!