Realised today at breakfast how much the monkey has improved. Previously having food on the table would have had us in full on defence mode and he circled, sniffed and planned his attack. Today I realised how relaxed it was. He managed a lovely 'leave it' when I'd placed a dish of his food on the table in preparation to do a bit of training with him and I'd walked away. So, Mr Monkey, well done you!
We're working the L3 Go to Mat. Need to look at duration now as it's 1 minute. He can now go to mat and lie down in different locations.
This morning I practised his nail filing. Funny how it takes him a while to get started. Without doing a couple of hand touches he often just stares. After the touches he just seems to get it. The touch thing is what I'll often do if he gets stuck in training. Not sure if that is a bad thing or not. It seems to signify to him that he's in the game and off we go.
We also worked on 'stand' and 'sit up', where he comes back into a sit from a 'down'. The sit until released is coming along really nice too. I can now drop a handful of food in the kitchen floor and yesterday a piece of sausage in the park at 10ft from him without him moving until I give him the 'free' release cue.
Still struggling with LLW. He can loose lead walk up to a pile of food on the pavement. But without this obvious training cue, he's still boinging around on the lead like a young puppy. So still not able to go on linear walks into town. For the moment I'm doing little training walks and then the offlead training runs when we've gone out to a field in the car.
Showing posts with label down. Show all posts
Showing posts with label down. Show all posts
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Sometimes you don't do the right thing
Argh... Well inexperience shows sometimes. I felt really bad today when I had a think after being advised by friends that perhaps my big trip up north in the car to pick up the new car wasn't good for Grey. When I did it, I thought I was doing the right thing. That it would be an opportunity to work on spending time in the car and it not being a journey to go offlead running on the beach. That was really silly of me and I won't do it again. It's not a good idea to raise the bar high and force him to get used to something. Where is the positive in that? So I put myself in a time out to think about it!
On the plus side I think he's going to be so much better in the new car. He happily gets in and sits in the back while it's parked. So later we can work on little trips out. But for now, we'll carry on with no car journeys while working on calm behaviour outside.
Another great piece of advice today was to try and LLW train when the traffic is quiet. Today was ideal because Sunday traffic round here is really low. During the week, we'll get up extra early. We went out across the road to an empty driveway/entrance to a carpark. No idea why I didn't think of this before. I think I'm slow sometimes. He was much much better. No lunging and barking. Stress levels were lower and was able to focus.
Other than that we've worked on sits and downs at home. I put his down on a long whistle so now he's got sit and down on a whistle, which hopefully will come in useful when he gets back off lead.
Also worked on watch at home.
On the plus side I think he's going to be so much better in the new car. He happily gets in and sits in the back while it's parked. So later we can work on little trips out. But for now, we'll carry on with no car journeys while working on calm behaviour outside.
Another great piece of advice today was to try and LLW train when the traffic is quiet. Today was ideal because Sunday traffic round here is really low. During the week, we'll get up extra early. We went out across the road to an empty driveway/entrance to a carpark. No idea why I didn't think of this before. I think I'm slow sometimes. He was much much better. No lunging and barking. Stress levels were lower and was able to focus.
Other than that we've worked on sits and downs at home. I put his down on a long whistle so now he's got sit and down on a whistle, which hopefully will come in useful when he gets back off lead.
Also worked on watch at home.
Saturday, 7 February 2009
Big changes in Grey's world
Something clearly wasn't working with Grey's training on walks and on the gencon. After much consultation with my dog guardian angels (thanks guys!) it was decided to make some radical changes for the next week or two. So Grey is now on day 2 of no off lead walks. And further that we don't go anywhere and he pulls. I'm not taking him out in the car either. I don't go anywhere unless he's calm. If he's not calm in the house, the lead doesn't go on and we don't go through the door. Yesterday we passed the day by doing the following:
Getting him used to the gencon by CT him for touching, looking, approaching the headcollar on the floor and in my hands. I left it around (supervised) so it's not just seen as the instrument of torture!
We sat out on the top of the front door steps on his blanket and CT for calm for each passing lorry, van, motorbike, people with push bikes, prams, kids, disabled people in wheelchairs. We live on one busy corner! We did 4 sessions like this of a couple of minutes. A couple of people came up and asked if they could stroke him. Grey obliged by wriggling lots!
We ventured out onto the pavement a couple of times and just worked up and down in front of the house. he had one barking freak out where we retreated to the safety zone of the steps and then CT for calm again.
Inside we passed the day with training on downs and started work on distance by going round the waste paper bin. I also got the crate back out because I'm going to get a new car soon and want him to be crate trained for that. Also it will be useful if he is able to be self controlled enough and calm if confined ever at the vets. He surprised me and got straight into the crate and lay down. I had thought he hated it as he had to be confined in it last month at a friend's flat and he didn't like it.
Other stuff I've done is stash kibble in the living room and I've generally been more proactive in getting him off the sofa and looking out the window at passersby. He's been generally very into training. So over this week or so his training is much more intensive. I had thought he would be really different if he didn't get his big run of the day, but he's been just as tired from the training and thinking about things. One huge difference I think will be is his focus on me. Everything good comes through me. I'm hand feeding him. I've portioned up his food and it's all used as training. Walks are no longer a means to an end. i.e. a free ride to the beach! So he will get used to the walk itself not as it being a route to being let off for a run.
I'm keeping sessions really short. I can see he can't cope with much and he starts to lose focus after a few minutes.
Today we've done some outside the house walking. Some round the bin distance work, and lots of downs where I've aso started to walk around and away from him while he's in the down.
On top of this we've got games and stuffed toys in his open crate.
Getting him used to the gencon by CT him for touching, looking, approaching the headcollar on the floor and in my hands. I left it around (supervised) so it's not just seen as the instrument of torture!
We sat out on the top of the front door steps on his blanket and CT for calm for each passing lorry, van, motorbike, people with push bikes, prams, kids, disabled people in wheelchairs. We live on one busy corner! We did 4 sessions like this of a couple of minutes. A couple of people came up and asked if they could stroke him. Grey obliged by wriggling lots!
We ventured out onto the pavement a couple of times and just worked up and down in front of the house. he had one barking freak out where we retreated to the safety zone of the steps and then CT for calm again.
Inside we passed the day with training on downs and started work on distance by going round the waste paper bin. I also got the crate back out because I'm going to get a new car soon and want him to be crate trained for that. Also it will be useful if he is able to be self controlled enough and calm if confined ever at the vets. He surprised me and got straight into the crate and lay down. I had thought he hated it as he had to be confined in it last month at a friend's flat and he didn't like it.
Other stuff I've done is stash kibble in the living room and I've generally been more proactive in getting him off the sofa and looking out the window at passersby. He's been generally very into training. So over this week or so his training is much more intensive. I had thought he would be really different if he didn't get his big run of the day, but he's been just as tired from the training and thinking about things. One huge difference I think will be is his focus on me. Everything good comes through me. I'm hand feeding him. I've portioned up his food and it's all used as training. Walks are no longer a means to an end. i.e. a free ride to the beach! So he will get used to the walk itself not as it being a route to being let off for a run.
I'm keeping sessions really short. I can see he can't cope with much and he starts to lose focus after a few minutes.
Today we've done some outside the house walking. Some round the bin distance work, and lots of downs where I've aso started to walk around and away from him while he's in the down.
On top of this we've got games and stuffed toys in his open crate.
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Training / Down - shaping day 3
Woohoo! He's now connected the cue to the action. He goes into a neat little down now. It's quite different to his previous down. He's really careful about it. Good boy, Grey!
Saturday, 17 January 2009
Shaping is coooool!
I have started reteaching Grey 'down' but this time by shaping. He was previously taught it by luring and clicker but it was clear he was not getting the vocal cue and more often than not, since he was 6 months old I had to crouch and coax him into a down. I obviously hadn't faded the lure correctly and he was dependent on it. So last night I started shaping him. Purely standing really still, and CT for the littlest movement down of his head and then more and more until he was all the way down. He was so cute and clearly got it. He was so perfectly in the same position each time and I didn;t request this of him. I would have been happy to just reward his down, but he wanted to be in the exact same movement. To me this showed me how much he was thinking about it rather than just going for the treat under his nose. We did a couple of 3 min sessions. By today's I had just started adding the vocal cue. I tried it outside in the courtyard and he didn't get it. So we started again from the beginning and he quickly got to giving full downs. Will try and firm it up tomorrow.
Other than that we did more lead training up on the top at Botany Bay. I had hoped he would find it less distracting on the footpath, but I think it was too close to the field he goes off lead on. I really need to find a boring bit of road, but I don't have one near my house. It's really busy here and everytime I go anywhere in the car it gets him hyped up.
Other than that we did more lead training up on the top at Botany Bay. I had hoped he would find it less distracting on the footpath, but I think it was too close to the field he goes off lead on. I really need to find a boring bit of road, but I don't have one near my house. It's really busy here and everytime I go anywhere in the car it gets him hyped up.
Monday, 8 September 2008
Little steps forwards
After the last session of capturing went all weird in the bathroom, a few people advised trying him in an environment he's more used to and for me to try to be more normal rather than still and silent. So we went back to the kitchen. You know that tiled waterproof place where Grey has never ever ever had a wee or a poo?
Well, the same thing happened again when I tried waiting for him to offer a sit or a down so I could click and treat him. He went into slow and staring mode, like he thought this was a challenge to do the world's longest watch while standing. So after a while and the poor pup was drooling waiting for a treat, I switched to teaching 'target' getting him to gently bop my hand with the end of his nose. This cheered him up and we were back to happy eager training pup again. So I will carry on with that one and see if I can sharpen up his down without retraining it as a capture. His 'touch' was up to about 2 metres away, so good boy!
Couple of pictures from a nice walk in Bekesbourne. Grey still won't go in the little stream. Shame because it looks perfect for dogs.
Well, the same thing happened again when I tried waiting for him to offer a sit or a down so I could click and treat him. He went into slow and staring mode, like he thought this was a challenge to do the world's longest watch while standing. So after a while and the poor pup was drooling waiting for a treat, I switched to teaching 'target' getting him to gently bop my hand with the end of his nose. This cheered him up and we were back to happy eager training pup again. So I will carry on with that one and see if I can sharpen up his down without retraining it as a capture. His 'touch' was up to about 2 metres away, so good boy!
Couple of pictures from a nice walk in Bekesbourne. Grey still won't go in the little stream. Shame because it looks perfect for dogs.
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Little steps backwards
I thought I would re-teach Grey the cues 'sit' and 'down'. When I first taught his at 7.5 weeks, I lured him into position before click treating. I have always had a doubt that he doesn't fully get 'down' as he often needed repeat cues. I'd since had advice that it might be better to teach 'sit' and 'down' through capturing, i.e. CT when the pup does the action all by himself rather than luring with food which would then mean having to fade the treat.
So off into the smallest room in the house, the bathroom. Here I was told that a puppy might do all manner of things, but eventually will either sit or lie down. And at that point you can CT and the game begins. No verbalising or signalling anything. Just let the pup work it out for himself and when he does the action again, food rains from the sky. How cool is that?
I expected Grey to get this quickly. He's been clicker trained since little, so he knows that click = food/toy/belly rub etc. What was surprising is his energy levels went really low and he took to just staring at me. He did work through a series of say ten 'downs' but he didn't seem happy. He kept looking at me like I was crazy! i.e. 'what are we doing here in this room?'
Ah, well. Might have just been an off day.
Did I mention he had lost some baby teeth all on his own? He's growing up. Oh and he weighed in at 20.2kg!!! At 19 weeks he's now 1kg over his previous progress. He was always the same kg in weight in as many weeks.
So off into the smallest room in the house, the bathroom. Here I was told that a puppy might do all manner of things, but eventually will either sit or lie down. And at that point you can CT and the game begins. No verbalising or signalling anything. Just let the pup work it out for himself and when he does the action again, food rains from the sky. How cool is that?
I expected Grey to get this quickly. He's been clicker trained since little, so he knows that click = food/toy/belly rub etc. What was surprising is his energy levels went really low and he took to just staring at me. He did work through a series of say ten 'downs' but he didn't seem happy. He kept looking at me like I was crazy! i.e. 'what are we doing here in this room?'
Ah, well. Might have just been an off day.
Did I mention he had lost some baby teeth all on his own? He's growing up. Oh and he weighed in at 20.2kg!!! At 19 weeks he's now 1kg over his previous progress. He was always the same kg in weight in as many weeks.
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