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One more quick note… I can use a mat for Casper to keep him a little still. He’s still learning the platform. I have done some crate games with him… But then he gets stuck in the crate and won’t come out!! 🤣. I have to lure him out or scatter treats on the ground. He likes to get stuck in the crate or on the matt. Maybe I’m doing it wrong. But he is a little independent guy! And I definitely want to keep that. I want him to be confident and be able to make decisions. And I plan on doing Nosework and tracking and other sports where he will definitely need to make his own decisions. ❤️
I will reply more later, just reading your reply this morning, and I have been working on getting him used to the hair dryer. My other two Farmdogs love the hair dryer cuz I condition them slowly when they were puppies. This morning I gave Connor a bath and blow-dried him and Casper which works well together. I use a ton of treats when I am blow drying them. They can get really cold so I wanted them to be able to like the hair dryer in the winter after bath. Then I locked Casper in the front room and blow-dried Connor again. And Casper was actually upset that he did not get to participate! So that just occurred to me when you were talking about trading the treats for whatever he may have in his mouth. I do trade him for things, but maybe I need to do it more often or more consistently.
Thanks! So I tried the toy play in the hallway again but I feel like a clutz. :p And I didn’t keep it to less than 30 seconds which I should have. But sometimes it takes him a bit to even start to play…
In this first one, the door behind him was cracked open, my bad, and was totally distracting him. I should have just closed it right away but I was a dork. It was less than a minute, though, then I stopped.
Later I went back to the hallway, with the door closed, and tried to keep it short again, but the noise I made to get his attention was too different and scary! Gah darn me. Rewatching the second one, I see that I should have stopped right after that second teeny tiny baby retrieve. Maybe two throws and be done. I hope I’m not making this worse. Let me know what you think. He doesn’t usually chase me when I run from him. Even when I went to the breeder when I got him, and I ran away from him in her back yard, he just stood there and looked at me like I was a weirdo, I thought… oookay, we’ll see how this goes. LOL I’m not sure if he’ll pick something up and place it in my hand yet, he still tends to just run off with things. :p
We tried the little stay again and I tried to wait until none of his anything was moving. He does move at the speed of light! It’s hard to wait for no movement, toss and say catch, and take a step away. That hurts my brain. lol. I can add in some gooooood while he’s not moving, too. It kinda looks to me like he’s offering his sit and down to see which one I’m going to click for. So hopefully he’ll understand the difference between those, and stillness. Also, I’m super good at training behavior chains that I don’t want (LOL) so I don’t want him to think he moves, then is still, and then gets the reward.
We also did the tunnel a bit again and I think he’s really catching on! I made it a little hard sometimes and he went to the MM and didn’t get a reward without going through the tunnel. I’m assuming that we want his tunnel offering really solid before I start changing my position. He really doesn’t like me to hold him or hold his collar, which I need to work on separately I’m sure, to make those good things instead of icky. I think he’s really understanding the Manners Minder!
LOL doesn’t he have the cutest sit? His down is similar. He will kinda lift up both front feet and then plop into a down, which is just so cute. I would like a fold-back down but how can I resist such a cutie? It was fun working with some classmates, we are hoping to get together more. I’m a weirdo retired person who prefers to meet during the week. Darn people with jobs, they get in the way. 😀
Sounds good about the turn n burn and waiting a bit with the toy, or using treats. I ordered a new barrel thing which should be here in a couple of days. It’s the same as at the barn so then I won’t have to bring mine (hopefully lol).
Yes, the resilience game was the first thing we did at the barn. He did seem to really like that. I don’t think he understands the words yet, but I’m sure he will. I can do the pattern game next time.
I am glad he loves the barn. Since I’m crappy at training loose leash walking, I strap the harness on my little dogs and go. He pulls me all the way in. 🙂 I figure we’ll learn to walk nicely one of these days so I can get him a CGC.
Last night I tried some toy play in the hallway, which wasn’t really fun for me LOL. I was trying to see if he’d take even a step towards me, which he did only once. Then he got bored of the toy. Afterwards I pulled out one of my own real fur toys, but the phone was set the wrong direction so I got 2 minutes of baby gate video. hahah gotta love that. Anyway he seems to just want to play with and tear up the real fur himself, so instead of interacting with me more, that causes him to play on his own more. What should I do? I do need to read back, too.
I also worked a little of the start line stay last night. Trying to get in a heartbeat or two of a wait. I figured either a sit or a down was okay, as long as he was stationary. This game may take a while for him to get. :p. He does like to be busy and bounce around a lot.
Yesterday I pulled my baby tunnel out of the snow and it was thawed this morning, so we started on the tunnel game. I just introduced the Manners Minder to him yesterday, and he thinks it’s a pretty Cool Thing. I helped him at first through the tunnel because I don’t think he really understood what I wanted. And I think I was using the MM more as a lure than a reward, but I figured that was okay for his first time. He loves the tunnels at the barn, but he’s never done one inside the house before. Julie was showing me the more advanced tunnel exercises and I want to do those, they look fun!
Okay thanks! That is cool that the dogs calm down with chewing. I’ve heard to referred to as like us reading a book. Dogs chew, we read. 🙂 It works for me, I love to read!
Yeah he loved that darn barrel LOL. I did put some heavier stuff in it and that seemed to work better. If I pull the toy away too soon, it seems he will just barrel (haha) into it. But if I’m too slow or late, he’s a bit slower. I did this at home a couple of days ago. Then when I watched the video I realized Connor was at the wrong place again, but Casper didn’t seem to mind this time.
Today I met a couple of classmates at the Barn of Sir Robert of the Sponges. 🙂 And Casper did so good! It was our third time at the barn and I think he’s really settling in. We worked on the treat delivery resilience game which he did really well at:
And I wanted to try the little start line game and he did amazing! I was so thrilled with him. I don’t know if my mechanics are right… and I didn’t wait for him to sit for long, and I didn’t work it for very long, so he could be successful. Let me know what you think. Mitre’s Mom was doing the video and the commentary. 🙂
And since he was doing so well with it all, I thought I would try a new barrel. I really need to get a couple of these, much nicer than my laundry basket lol. I’ll see about ordering some. He did great when I was kneeling, but struggled a bit when I stood, so we also didn’t do it for long.
He wasn’t able to play again, which is fine… okay well he played with Mitre’s real fur toy! So I will be buying him some new real fur tugs. 🙂 So maybe that’ll be higher value than just my fleece toys when the environment is more difficult.
Overall I was really happy with his work at the barn! Then he got to play with Mitre a little bit, and they had a blast. 🙂 They are very well matched puppies!
Thanks! I tried a little tugging in the bathroom today but the room is actually too small and he got kinda weirded out and didn’t want to play. I also tried the hallway, but I forgot to block and end off so he ran off with the toy. LOL, So next time I will do better. 🙂 Sounds good about clicking for bringing me anything else too, with food. Just like scooting away from me he usually runs when he has something. He is getting better at realizing I’m not just going to take it, sometimes I will play with the thing in his mouth and then let go and let him keep having it. If it’s safe, of course. I do think he will probably drop anything he has for food, though, so I’ll have to see about how I could do that. Letting him have a chew after play to help calm him down sounds like a great idea. He loves bully sticks so that will work well.
“the concept of NOT moving when the momma moves away is a mind-exploder for puppies. ” LOL I didn’t realize it was quite so hard! I worked that a little today again but I forgot to turn the video recording on. Pfft. Hate when that happens. I used a clicker and that did seem to help, though I will have to get my mechanics better when using the clicker. I felt a bit awkward.
And very cool about the release word. I am in the habit of using Break now, and changing, for me, is super hard. That’s why all my dogs have the same words for contacts too, because I would just spew out the old word if I tried to change to a new word. :p
I did remember to hit record on our barrel wraps training today. Casper is getting so stinking enthusiastic about my laundry basket that he’s running the thing over! Hahaha he cracked me up. So I pulled out the wing and used that instead, but I went back down to just two toys because he’s not seen the wing before. I think he did a good job.
Enjoy your holiday! I am glad you are taking time off. 🙂 Our big day is Christmas Eve, but I like to be lazy on Christmas day!
Thanks! Yeah, I love the idea of having a word predict where the cookies is coming from, so they won’t grab at my hands. Casper is a huge food thief so that will help immensely! And very good you don’t require catching. I think Casper will be great at it once he’s older and has more coordination. 🙂 I will get better at the words, once they become more second nature to me.
I was reading some other lessons today so I thought we would try the retrieve games and the start line stay. I wasn’t sure what he would think about tugging on me for the beginning retrieve, but he did great! I remembered not to touch him or smack him at all! He is still majorly teething so I wasn’t sure if he would even want to tug but he was all excited about it. And since he still will forget about toys after he’s had food, this was our first training session this morning. He will not even step toward me with the toy, though. He is definitely in the Game of One puppy stage. :p. I really want to have a great retrieve with him so I want to work on this one a lot. So I’m looking forward to your help with this one! Question, what’s the best way to end the game? I let him have the toy then went and got some kibble out of one of the many bowls of kibbles I have scattered around the house. I use them a lot. Including, like when he’s in the bedroom and I want us all out so I can close the gate, but he doesn’t yet scook out like my other dogs. He will actually back into the room even more. So I’ve been throwing some kibble out of the room so he will leave the room and I can close the gate. Anyway, video:
I also tried the baby start line stay. I LOVE this idea! Casper has no stay whatsoever and when I try to get pictures I have to give him a big kibble that he can chew for a second to give me enough time to move away and snap a picture. Hahaha he does make me laugh. For this first session, I just threw back a treat and said “catch” (Look at me using the right word lol) so he would move a bit away from me while I stepped forward. As you can see, no duration at all. And… when he went for the slipper I realized this game was HARD for him and he was done, so I trained too long. So next time will be shorter. Also, I have been using the word Break as Dreamer’s release word. Before that, I used Okay with my other dogs. I like Break, it’s short and sweet, but I also use Wait for my start line stay, and they sound a lot alike. Is it okay to use Break and Wait? Sometimes at Dreamer’s start line, I say “You Wait” which may be a little different.
Thank you! So far so good. I still feel crappy but getting a little better every day.
Thanks for your feedback! Yeah, Casper is a very baby dog. I am thankful I have your encouragement with him!
Usually, I use Get It for everything cookie related, whether it is in my hand or on the ground. So I will modify my words and work through the resilience games. I started the cookie delivery today. And up super easy. 🙂 I will have to keep a note by me for a while to remember which position goes with which word. And… how do you teach a puppy to catch? Casper has no clue. LOL. I’ve never thrown food toward him before to have him catch. And with toys I’ll toss a small light toy but he doesn’t catch it yet. I’m thinking he may need to mature and have more coordination to actually catch. I use a slow arc so he can see the treat coming.
Tracy, thank you so much for your encouragement! I do need the positive reinforcement as I train my dogs, so I really appreciate it. Your reply gave me lots of warm fuzzies. 🙂 Casper is different from all my other dogs, as, of course, all dogs are different. And he’s fun, and I do want to give him the best start possible! I go back and forth between really wanting him to play with the toys, and realizing he will do it at his own pace. So thanks for reinforcing that the toy play will come back as he grows more accustomed to working around distractions. And yeah those teeth, poor guy can hardly chew kibble right now. 🙂
Today I took him to another agility training place, and there were other people and dogs, and that totally blew his mind! 🙂 He couldn’t play with toys at all. I tried for half a minute just to see what I’d get from him, and nope, toys were not interesting at all. He just wanted to watch what was going on. We did walk around at first so he could see things. And say hi to a nice man sitting in a chair watching. The next area over had dogs running agility full tilt and that was super hard!
This first video is when the other people and dogs were still there, so I just did a very basic simple barrel session. I think he did pretty good. I didn’t trust him to run off and go visiting so I left his leash on him. He didn’t seem really care about the leash.
After most of the other people and dogs left I had a much easier time with him and was able to take him off leash. Again we just did the threadle basics, and I brought out the barrel again.
I also worked on his perch box a little and did some middle training, which he was good with. Just super short and things he is pretty good at at home.
I am having an ablation Monday morning Dec 19 so I don’t know how much I’ll be able to do for the next week. I guess some people recover from it in three days, and some people take a couple of weeks. I always say I have a poor recovery, especially when I’m upset, and usually physically too, so I’m going to take it easy and not plan on much for the next week or two. I’m fortunate to have a good husband who will take care of the dogs. 🙂
The puppy class is pretty stimulating for him. 🙂 I don’t do the classes that have play groups, and the class is only about 45 minutes, but the two other puppies are super cute and he wishes he could meet them. I pick the puppy classes now where I can just work my own puppies around other puppies so they learn to work with me around other dogs. But it’s still hard! I’m glad he’s really food motivated. Though eating kibble is a bit difficult for him now with all his teeth doing their puppy thing. So I try to use soft treats unless I want him to stay for a second and crunch on the kibble. lol.
I don’t think I have seen the cookie pattern games, where have I missed those? Or is that in the resilience games? I have to read those more, I have been focusing on only the few things we have been doing. :p
He loved the barn today. Didn’t even want to pee before going in, so I waited him out so he did pee before he went in. Good boy! And I did just use food mostly for training. We did the barrel game very quick and short, and I think he did great!
I also did only a few reps of throwing the toy to drive forward, and I think he did good there too. This is the whole video, I didn’t cut the front or back off like I usually do. As you can see, the flooring is SUPER interesting to him. But he was able to leave the fun smells of the turf to come and work for a little bit.
We also worked the threadle basics just a tad. I forgot my target so I used a bit of napkin that was in my car lol. He seemed to adapt to that just fine. He got lots of breaks between short training sessions. It’s nice to have two dogs, Dreamer had fun working threadles too!
And… I was going to work the blind foundations but it turned into a play session instead, because he wasn’t super into the toys. So this is that, thought I would include it so you can see what he’s doing with toys in the barn, especially after we’ve done some training with treats. 🙂 In the past with my dogs, I would give up on toys if they weren’t super interested, and just went to treat training. But I really really want to keep his toy drive! My older Farmdogs only work for food now and I love that Dreamer works for toys. Aaannd pfft, watching the following video, I was touching him way too much wasn’t I? LOL That’s why he said nope, don’t want to play that way. :p
Oh, that is a good point that Connor was eyeballing from inside the xpen. 😀 And him just being there could have been too much pressure. I will rearrange it next time. All these things I don’t catch and I appreciate that you do! It’s so nice to have more eyes on my training. 🙂
Yes, I was trying to keep him from getting the toy when he jumped up. The little turkey is a food thief, too, if I sit on the couch eating and am not super careful he will dart in and steal food off my plate. If I don’t want to constantly reward him for sitting and waiting nicely while I eat, I just put him into his xpen. I love his confidence! But I want my own food. LOL
I love impulse control games! Casper really needs them. He hates waiting for anything and things he should have All The Things NOW. So I was pleased with the threadle game too. 🙂
I took him to puppy class last night and we tried playing with those same skunk toys and he had a hard time playing. He is great at taking treats, but in that distracting environment, the toy play isn’t as valuable. I really need to remember that. What’s the best way to keep toys high value in distracting environments? Keep the play really short? I do plan on heading to the barn today even though is bitterly cold. I wish I had a warmer coat that fit him better, but he’d just grow out of it in a week. :p
Thanks!
Great thanks! The barrel wrap is really fun. 🙂 I tried it standing up this morning, which was an adventure LOL. It is hard with the small room and the small dog. I cut out some of the playing time to make the video shorter. And I can’t reset the barrel with a toy in my hand, he keeps jumping up for the toy. Lesson learned!
We also did some more threadle, with the treat in the bowl. I think he did pretty good!
Thanks for the parameters I should work with him at the barn. 🙂 (haha been watching too much Star Trek lately.) I decided not to go today, since it’s been snowing for two days and I didn’t want to make the drive, so I rescheduled for Friday.
That makes sense for the threadle exercise too. 🙂 I’ll work on that again at home as well. I’m glad my mechanics look good. When I watched myself, I thought my feet weren’t pointing in quite the right direction, but I will work on that more next time.
Today we just did a little toy play around the barrel, and I think he did great!
We will go back to the barn again tomorrow and see what we can do. Hopefully, after a week he’ll be more relaxed there. We go there quite often over the winter. And I won’t go with any expectations like I did last time. Stupid expectations. :p I always have to adjust to what he can do (all the dogs). And yeah he was pretty tired afterward. 🙂
Had a show last weekend but I’m back at it today. He had a super fun weekend again. I love how confident he is, that he’ll want to run right up to the Great Danes and Wolfhounds and not even worry that they may be scary. I asked the Wolfhound folk if he could visit, and he was so sweet with the giant 9-month-old Wolfhound puppy. All good experiences!
This morning we started the threadle basics. I did try the position out myself before starting. Then after the first side, I had to think for a minute (thus the pause lol) about doing the next side. I think he did a really good job for his first time!
And then I tried starting the turn and burn too. This was the first time I really did it with toys at home. I started with treats, to remind him, then went to the toy. He still wanted the treat but he went to the toy pretty quickly, I think. I wasn’t sure if I should help him go around, or wait him out. I opted for waiting him out and he did figure it out. :). I started standing, but thought maybe that was too much, so then went to kneeling. Hah. And most of this video is play rather than working. 🙂
I’ll probably do this same thing at the barn tomorrow, or even take it a step backward and see what we get. And do some more drive-forward activities.
