TrainingTag Archives

More Than Treats

Jet and the Bottle

When training the dogs I use a heck of a lot of treats. I try to use toys too, and Chase is my only dog that really is good at loving the toys to the point that they are a good reward for him. And he can switch back and forth between treats and toys and loves them both. With Jet, he loves the toys and tug, but when the treats come out he’s not too excited about the toys anymore. So we have to work on making the toys more exciting.

Anyway, I like to think that even though the dogs love the treats, they love the training more. And when the treats fade, the work and the fun will still keep the dogs’ interesting and they will still want to work. Not all dogs are like this… Lucy’s interest is gone when the treats are gone. Tatum… the more she trains in agility the more she likes the actual agility and the treats can come less frequently. Levi always loved his treats, but also loved the doing of the things.

It’s hard to fade treats… the trick is to keep the dog being a believer. Believing that the treat will come eventually, while making them more and more infrequent. And hoping that the fun of the games and learning will keep their interest as well. I think both Jet and Chase love the learning and the fun. And though they wouldn’t perform without treats, I still think that they love to train and figure things out and learn and spend time with me.

So it’s a balance… treats, toys, and the stimulating activity of the training itself. The dog’s don’t need any insurance advertising in their training… which is a good thing! Because I would have no idea how to incorporate that. :p

I want to go work with Jet some today, but my neck is hurting me quite a bit, so I might rest for a while and see how I feel a little later. We did work the last two days in a row!

Cynthia

February 28, 2010

Training

2 comments

Training

Sits and Downs

Tatum Stays

So I’m working Sits and Downs with Jet and Tatum. As well as signals with Chase… which is similar, for utility obedience, but it’s all hand signals and no verbals. I want them all to have good verbals as well as hand signals. Their sits and downs are great on their own, but when I try to mix them up in the same training session then they tend to have more difficulty.

A friend of mine recommended these Training Levels to follow. It’s a training program to help a dog get to competition level without so many holes in their training like so many dogs have (yes, including mine). So I’m starting with Level 1 and I’m working on Sit and Down.

I like to train these things in the same session. I use a clicker, and I like to lure and capture behaviors. But when I lure, say, the down, then I throw in a sit after a bit, neither Jet nor Tatum really listen, they just keep offering the down. So I have to lure the sit a couple times, while saying the verbal. This seems to remind them to pay attention to my voice as well as my hand signals or they won’t get the click and treat.

Jet, of course, is faster at picking things up than Tatum is. She’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. But she is understanding. So earlier today I took 5 minutes out of my work-from-home day and trained them each.

Jet is understanding my verbals, I’d say, 90% of the time now when I switch between the Sit and the Down verbals. Tatum is understanding, maybe 70% when I switch between the sit and down verbals. And I stand stationary, keeping my hands behind my back, so that I’m not giving them any unintentional physical cues.

Soon I think I’ll be ready to throw in the stand. They both know the hand signals, but not the verbals as much. So I’ll have to work verbals for a while so they know what the cue means. Well, verbals with some hand signals and switching off so they know what Stand means. Though Stand isn’t in the Training Level 1… it’s just something that I do, working the sit, down and stand together as it’s a good utility exercise for the dogs to know. It is probably in one of the higher levels.

With Chase I’m working the hand signals. And he’s getting pretty good at them, though today he was slipping a bit on the tile floor and didn’t want to down. So I put in the verbal with the hand signal on the down and that seemed to help him a lot.

Such good dogs. It’ll be so nice to have clear sits, downs, and stands… I think my dogs have always been a bit confused by them. :p But I’ve never taken the time to teach them this clearly!

Edit… here is the journal entry I’ve started for Tatum (though I didn’t know it was just Tatum at the time and so put Jet’s info in there too): Training Levels Journal

Cynthia

February 8, 2010

Obedience

1 comment

Chase, Jet, Obedience, Tatum, Training

Chase’s Obedience Training

Chase

Winter is for obedience… or so it has been for the last year or so. It’s hard to get out and do agility or flyball so we work inside and work on obedience. Chase breezed through his CD in both AKC and ASCA and so we are training him up for Open and Utility.

His open is just about ready though, of course, once in a while he’ll pull something weird out of the air. Yesterday on the broad jump he actually went around it a couple of times, instead of over, which he has never done before. But we’d trained the retrieve over the high just before, and put the high jump off to the side, the side he went around the broad jump. When we moved that away then he seemed to be fine. We guessed he was pulling toward that jump. Goofy boy. He’s too smart for his own good.

On Friday we were working Utility exercises. He is so good. We worked the Go-Out where he has to go to the other end of the ring and spin and sit. He has a gorgeous Go-Out thanks to flyball. LOL And he has good distance control too so his spin and sit are also really nice! Even without a treat.

So yesterday we were working scent articles (we still have some cheese on there so he knows, for sure, which one to pick up). One time he went to the pile, picked up the correct article, then spun and sat, looking all proud of himself. LOL he is way too smart! So we have to tell him that the article pile and the go out are different, and let him know what the right things are. He understands so fast and he is such a good smart boy. We use lots of treats and praise and tugs and he is really starting to understand a lot.

In March he’ll go into AKC Open A, which I really need to enter… okay I printed the premium so I can do that tomorrow.

Anyway, Chase needs more physical activity, but the weather just sucks. Maybe he could work an elliptical… or maybe I need one instead. Or a treadmill. Many dogs use treadmills in the winter! I should jog but the pollution outside just makes me sick to look at, much less breathe. :p

Cynthia

January 17, 2010

Chase, Obedience, Training

1 comment

Chase, Obedience, Training

Jet and the Feetz Box

I’ve been doing lots of training with Jet… I guess I should post more about it. I’ve been posting up little video clips on my YouTube account.

Here is one thing we are working on. I call it the Feetz Box. I am not calling it a perch box because I have two other type boxes that I consider perch boxes.

So this teaches him a lot of rear-end awareness. Dogs don’t really know they have a rear end… and it’s so good to teach them that they do, and to be aware of it! Being aware of their whole bodies is great for obedience and agility.

I’m using clicker training quite a bit with him. I have to remember the Always on Cue, Only on Cue thing, though, because my dogs tend to start offering so much that I have a hard time focusing on any one thing. So I’m going to teach him when it’s okay to offer, and when it’s not.

This will help Jet learn to heel, too, for obedience. And to move In with me on the left turns. And it’ll help for Rally, too. It’s just an all around good exercise and Jet loves it to! He learned to get his Feetz up there fast, and he is really learning to turn!

Jet, Obedience, Training

Taking Things From Dogs

Collie and Danish Swedish Farmdog Playing

Jet and Tatum - Buddies

I try never to take things from my dogs. It can really make them play keep-away and hide-the-bones and other things that we don’t really want with the dogs. Instead of taking anything from my dogs I will trade them. For another toy, or a treat, or a game of tug or play or something. Anything so they don’t think I’m just taking things from them left and right and if they have anything at all they need to run with it so I don’t take it away.

I made the mistake of taking a dead mouse out of Jet’s mouse a while back and now he is really reluctant for me to get near him when he has anything that valuable, and icky! But if he has one now, I will go inside and get a liver treat and then trade him for the dead mouse. Hoping that he doesn’t swallow it before I get back. So far, so good. He seems to like to play with the things instead of swallowing. :p Though how a liver can be worth trading for a dead mouse I don’t know!

Sometimes I will take a shoe or something if I don’t have anything to trade and if I’m in a hurry. But that’s few and far between. I want to make sure that the dogs will not steal things and keep them away from me or my husband. You never know when the dogs might get into something dangerous that they really need to give up. Plus, for obedience training the dogs have to bring back dumbbells and articles and things, and so bringing has to be fun!

This picture is cute isn’t it? It’s of Tatum and Jet going out to play. They are best buddies and I’m so glad they are. I love it when my dogs are attached to each other and not just me. Dogs are dogs, after all, and I want them to have dog time. After Tatum plays, she always seems so satisfied that she needs a cigar or a cigarette. LOL she’s such a goof!

Cynthia

December 28, 2009

Daily Posts, Training

5 comments

Training

My Goal with Jet – No Retraining Obstacles!

Cute Boy Jet

One of the things I don’t have any faith in whatsoever in agility is retraining contacts.

I realize that sometimes you start training them one way and it doesn’t really work out for that dog, so you think maybe it’d be better to train another way. Or else maybe you start out with a Four on the Floor for the A-Frame and your dog learns to leap the yellow and hit the ground without touching the yellow at all, so you want a 2 on 2 off instead. Or maybe the dog isn’t getting the weaves very well so you want to retrain using the 2×2 method instead of channels or something…

Well, one thing I learned in agility from Day One was that the first thing you teach your dog, that is what they are going to do when they are in high drive or when they are stressed. And it’s so true.

I am really really lucky that I had a good foundation trainer for Chase’s weaves and contacts and his are pretty darn good if I do say so myself. Though he’s been known to pop weaves or blow a contact to hit a tunnel… that’s a training issue and not an obstacle issue.

I trained Levi all wrong on the weaves, incorporated a lot of stress in that training, and his whole career he had rotten weaves and it kept us from having a higher Q rate than we did.

So with Jet, my main number one primo ultimate goal is to train the obstacles the right way the first time so we don’t have to redo anything in the future.

So we are doing 2o2o (Two On Two Off) on the contacts, which I love, know how to train, and think is very black and white to me and the dog. We are doing good consistent weaves. And we need to do shadow handling and ground work too and forward focus and distance work.

Rule #1 of Agility: Do It Right The First Time.

Goes for Obedience and flyball too!

Cynthia

December 17, 2009

Agility, Flyball, Jet, Training

1 comment

Agility, Jet, Training

Jet and 2o2o Work

I’ve been working on a touch board, teaching Jet the Two On Two Off for agility contacts. He is doing very well. This video spans about five days of short training sessions. It’s about 10 minutes long so you don’t have to watch it all… or at all, if you don’t want. But I like to record our progress.

I’m happy with how he is doing, though I need to include more movement and reward him for staying on the board until I release him. He’s doing well though! And putting the board on the ceramic tiles made it a bit slippery, so I put matting underneath it and that seemed to help.

Agility, Jet, Training

A Good Excuse To Stay Home

Jet and Tatum in the Snow

I have to admit… as much as I love the dog sports, it’s nice to have some snow outside on the ground… it’s a good excuse to stay home and not compete or train quite as much as I have been. Summer just gets too full of dog sports sometimes and I need a break. Here’s a picture of Jet and Tatum playing in the snow we got over the weekend. They sure have fun in the snow!

I have been training inside, though. Jet is learning to roll over and shake. He is so smart, he is really picking up on them fast. I’ve been teaching him on the bed in the bedroom where it’s comfy for him to roll over. So hopefully he won’t think he only rolls over in the bedroom. We’ve also been doing crate games where if he stays in the crate he gets lots of treats. And when I release him to come out he gets treats and tugs. He loves it!

I also did some jump work with Tatum and Chase in the basement. I want to make jumps more valuable for Tatum since she doesn’t seem to crazy about them. So I think it’ll work for her so she’ll like the jumps better. And I’m following the Linda Mecklenburg book I got to help Chase to round over jumps more and have tighter turns. Hopefully that’ll help too.

So having some nice lazy quiet weekends at home is wonderful, and I am enjoying myself!

Chase, Chatter, Jet, Tatum, Training