[cynthia]

Well, now I feel bad that he doesn’t like the hard play, being touched, etc. Dreamer thinks that’s the greatest thing and it gets him even more growly. 😀 I will be better with Casper and not touch him when we play.

And with the behaviors, I don’t really elicit them. I just wait for him to offer. Like sometimes he’ll do a bow when we are training, all on his own, and I will click that and then work that behavior. But I don’t do anything to encourage it… I don’t lure him into it or anything. Same with the beg. Sometimes he will just pop into a beg, and so if I want to work that, I click and treat that. But when we begin a training session sometimes I just kinda let him decide what he wants to offer first, and then we go from there.

To train my other dogs to bow, I used the board they back onto, and then they kept their rear feet on that, and I lured their front end down. But Casper just goes into a play bow all on his own.

Does that make sense?

I was at a trial all weekend so didn’t have time to train, I will get back to it!

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by cynthia.

[cynthia]

Sounds good! I will slowly increase the challenge of the cone game as we go forward. :). And that’s good using the squeaker wasn’t cheating lol. I’ll check out the Any Toy Any Time game as well.

This morning I worked the Goat Tricks Part 1. I was reading up on it last night, and I want to see how this will transform into a stay behavior. Casper is way too busy and wiggly to get any kind of stay duration. Sitting nicely pictures… I have to click my camera really fast! And I love to take pictures so he needs a stay. 🙂 This video is a little too long, but it’s mostly playing, I probably could have cut most of it out. We did this about 30 minutes after he ate breakfast, and the food I used was boring kibble.

I just used a board I found in the basement, but I do have a soft tiles platform that I use for stays and things. Can I use that instead? Or does it need to be something novel?

I have another kinda off-topic question. I shape a lot of behaviors with my dogs, and I wait for them to offer things. While doing things with Casper, I usually let him offer a behavior and then click/treat. For example, he’s been offering a little beg and a little bow. But I’ve been thinking, should I start naming these things? I wonder if all my dogs don’t have really good verbals because I usually wait until the behavior is pretty solid before I put the verbal cue in. But… my dogs usually don’t have good solid verbal cues for tricks and will keep throwing themselves around to find out what I want. I would rather have the “only one cue, always on cue” philosophy, but I’m not good at getting that. :p. I just keep thinking about the idea of not giving a behavior a verbal cue until the dog really understands the behavior. But with my dogs, they seem to struggle to put the verbal with the behavior even after I start to say it.

[cynthia]

Thanks! He’s already mastered me in the chair and him going around the cone. 🙂 I don’t think I was too smooth setting up again, though, I put the cone down before the bowls. Oops. 😀 I do totally understand wanting to reward that initial interaction, like when putting down a mat and they try to jump on it before you even lay it down. I’ll do better next time. He had no problems going around the cone with my hands in my lap.

I also tried a toy in each hand, and he didn’t seem to really want to leave the one he was on, for the other that wiggled. I did cheat and squeaked the toy to make it more appealing. These are brand-new (albeit cheap) toys and, usually, new ones are pretty appealing. They are not identical but usually equal in value to him. I think I did tug too hard at about 33 seconds and yanked the toy out of his teeth. I don’t know if he stopped liking that side because he didn’t like that.

I also tried some of the blind cross exercise by tossing a treat, then having him chase me with a nice long toy I dragged. But he did not really want the toy, he kept looking for the treats. This was right before dinner so maybe he was hungry? I’m not sure, because he’s always hungry. Oh… I bet it was because the treats were higher value. I probably should have used kibble. 🙂 I can show you that video too if you like. I can have my husband hold him instead of tossing the treat. But we’d still need to use treats to get ahold of him. :p Still working on that!

[cynthia]

Those sound great! I used a chair this time, to see how he would do, and put the cone right next to me again. It definitely looked different to him! And that makes sense, that it’s a gradual progression to me standing up. And we had no barking or whining dogs this time. 🙂

Should I try the back-and-forth with toys? Do I need identical toys? I am curious to how he would do with that. Sometimes he seems like he doesn’t want to give up the toy he has, even if it’s not moving, for the toy that’s moving.

I also worked the collection and turn game a little bit in the back yard again, trying to remember to keep my hand with the treat right next to my leg. I think he’s right-handed. I’ve been doing a perch box with him too, where he puts his front feet on and moves his rear around, and he sees better going to the right than the left. So I think his turns are tighter to the right than the left when I do the decel and turn game too.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by cynthia.

[cynthia]

Yup, all sounds good! I will work those some more outside and do better :D.

He is getting a little better about me reaching for him and picking him up. I have been scooting backward with a treat and he comes to me and will put his legs on me. So it’s becoming more of a good thing.

For the wing wrap game, I saw that and my hand shot in the air and I said Pick Me Pick Me! 😀 I’ve been working this on a cone for a while now, and he’s good! I pushed the cone out a little too far in this video but he worked it out. 🙂 Should I start with a wing and have it closer to me since that will change the picture?

I was kinda a bad trainer, you can hear Connor whining in the background… he wanted to play. But Casper didn’t seem bothered by it.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by cynthia.

[cynthia]

Thanks! I like the idea of the foot target to my leg, I will work on that. I have been backing up a little and having him come to me, which he is getting better with. And I always have treats when I pick him up, and he’s happy about that!

I will work on the send game without the clicker next time. It’s so cold outside, 34f during the day, but I did manage to go out and not quite freeze today! The first video is the collection game, I think he did pretty well. His rear did swing out a little bit.

Edit to add, yeah Casper was born July 30, so I think he’s really close in age with your Ramen.

I also worked the driving ahead but that was a bust LOL. In my small front room, I can usually play with him, and grab him in fun, and he’s okay with it, then throw the tow and he goes after it. However, the same strategy didn’t work outside. :p. He thought it was all great fun though! I will need to adjust that game. :D.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by cynthia.

[cynthia]

Heh yeah, Maze is definitely the self-elected fun police. :p For today I put him in the bedroom where he can’t see or hear anything so won’t participate!

Casper is such a thinker! I knew that when I picked him up from the breeder. I called in silly sounds to get him to come, and he just stood and stared at me at 9 weeks old. LOL. Like he was wondering whether coming was worth it. :p Also, he did pick up a bad habit at the breeder. She’s not a sports breeder. She did awesome building confidence, but he will run if you bend down to just pet him, and taking anything away won’t happen. I have been doing lots of trading and really trying to convince him that coming to me is super awesome. It’s a thing I think will take a while to fade. That being said, his retrieve is terrible and he’d prefer to run off with things rather than engage with me with things.

This morning I started with Prop Game 1. I may need a bigger room. When just standing waiting for him to touch the folder, he did have to think about it for a while. And he was a bit confused when I pointed toward the folder, so I kept it short and stayed pretty close to the folder.

[cynthia]

Thanks for the feedback! I can definitely give Casper tugging privacy. Maze is the one barking in the kitchen, he’s the house Fun Police, so if anyone else plays he thinks he has to talk about it. If I put him in the bedroom that will solve that problem. I definitely want Casper to keep tugging, so yeah I am looking forward to building that tug-play resilience. Dreamer doesn’t care if something else happens but he’s older and definitely more experienced.

Should I submit more videos of these games? I can do that tomorrow. I do try to keep sessions short but Casper is doing so good and wants to keep learning, so I have to remind myself to stop early, before he wants to stop. :). He also tends to like new toys or special toys better, so I’m keeping that long toy as a special toy he will love to play with when training.

I will reward away next time and stop using the clicker, it is hard to click and hold treats and the nose target all at the same time. :p

Thanks!

[cynthia]

Fun another Farmdog puppy! They are such a wonderful breed. So sweet and they love to learn All The Things. 🙂

Here are Casper’s pre-games. I think I mixed up 1 and 2 lol. I’ve been working a lot of feet on the thing, perch box, platform, etc, so he’s got that one down. 🙂 I used a plastic folder that I haven’t used for anything else.

And I’ve also worked the nose touch to my palm, so putting a target in my palm went well. Though he tried to steal the target. LOL. It’s just a small pad of sticky notes.

I’m really happy how he switches to play. My other Farmdogs only work for treats now, I didn’t really keep up on the play training with them when they were puppies. And I LOVE using toy rewards for Dreamer, so I definitely want to keep that toy drive!

[cynthia]

Thank you! I will probably keep with the smaller games. And the threadle arm videos are great. I tried a little with Dreamer today. I think he will catch on pretty quickly.

“Faster, yes, but also easier because he will be able to read cues sooner and understand the flow of the course, which helps us humans because we don’t need to be as perfect. Then it will be much easier to get the first run, best run theme solidly in place ”
And thanks for saying why we will get better. 🙂 Many people say we will get better ( and I think we will too ), but I haven’t really heard a description of why we’ll get better. 🙂

[cynthia]

Thanks for the feedback! We had a trial this weekend and had fun. I still have handling mistakes lol. Dreamer did awesome. He loves the game so much.

I actually do not have a threadle arm. I wonder if he would really pay attention to it if he’s committed to a tunnel entrance. I do want to train a threadle arm on him for sure and I’d love help!

I have to admit I have a lot of anxiety and should reply here more but sometimes I get overwhelmed!

[cynthia]

LOL I love the water idea! Though I don’t know if I could concentrate on the water bottle and the course at the same time. :). Yeah, I figure he will get faster as he gets older and has more confidence. :D.

So I will set the skills up in the backyard again, but today I had to opportunity to run the standard course at a friend’s house. I don’t have enough room in my yard to set up a full course, and I don’t have aframe or a dog walk. But I can rent a yard to set up the jumpers course.

We only did two reps. And, well, the first run wasn’t the best run. lol. Though I do love that idea of first run best run! I found 9-10-11-12 exceptionally difficult. He locked onto the wrong end of the tunnel so early I didn’t know how to cue the left end of the tunnel. After we ran the full course, I tried some decel, but he was already locked onto the right end. I can post that video too. He’s sooo far ahead of me I don’t know the best way to handle that.

Then 13-14-15… I was able to get a blind in after the frame to support the back side for the second rep, but didn’t get it in for the first rep. I really don’t know the best way to handle that, either. when I worked that sequence he would often miss jump 13 if I pumped my arms and just ran as fast as I could to the end of the frame. Also, I’m not really super confidence he will do the frame safely when I do that. He can tend to fly off the frame from too high a height if I’m running super fast past it. Cause of course he wants to race me. 🙂

Anyway, other issues as well, but those were my two biggest. I look forward to your reply! Thanks!

Rep 1:

Rep 2:

[cynthia]

What, what? Get him faster? 🤣🤣 Lol he’s so fun.

In reply… You said ..When you say his name on tight turns, is that for wraps. I use ‘check’ as a wrap cue. But I don’t always get the word out of my mouth. Lol. I use his name for like a hard turn towards me out of a tunnel or in a pinwheel or something.

My instructor here in Utah also tells me I need need to stay in motion for him so that’s good to have more information about that. I try to but sometimes he’s so far ahead of me I feel like I need to slow down or almost stop in order to be where I need to be. So I definitely need to be aware of that.

I like the idea of a marker on the ground to help me remember when to decel!

I do point too much. Sometimes my arms have minds of their own lol.

Thanks for the feedback! I will set this up again and make notes of your input. I am probably going to a friend’s house tomorrow who is also in this class and try the standard course.

[cynthia]

Thanks!

We had fun working on the first set of skills. I did the first 3. I only did 2 reps of 1, and 2 reps of 2, then I did 4 reps of 3. That was enough, it was already getting hot this morning.

As you can see, I need to cue sooner. LOL. In skill 3, after the first rep, I thought maybe a reverse spin would work well at jump 5, and I think that worked better. He loves to jump in extension, and he’s not very good at collection. I didn’t know, when he was a puppy, that I would need so much collection! And I didn’t do Max Pup, which I now regret, and want to do it with my next puppy. :). And… I don’t have a Come In Towards Me cue, really. For a tight turn I use his name, which I have been doing for 18 years lol, and probably need something different. I am in the process of teaching him Right and Left verbal cues. I’ve never trained them on a dog before, haven’t really needed to, but I think I need to with Mr. Speedy Dreamer. I haven’t had a dog this fast since 2006. 🙂

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