What we've been doing

I want to get trick titles on my crew. We've been working on various foundation exercises just for this goal. Well, not just for the trick title, but for now, that's my motivation.  (You can find more information about trick titling here, Trick Title )  In my opinion, there's no such thing as too much training. As long as you're having fun and your dog is having fun, why not do it??

I looked over the application, looked at what was required, looked at what we needed to learn. I already had two of the books I needed, so I ordered the third. Then I made my chart. When actively training, it can be hard to remember who already knows what and who needs more work in what. Charts are good for this!

It was very interesting to go down the list and figure out who knew what already AND knew it well enough to pass 'the test'. For now, to me, passing means being able to do it in the house (easy), in the backyard (average) and in the front yard (a little bit hard). For myself, that kind of proofing is necessary. It tells me they really *know* it.

Some of the tricks don't need that kind of proofing. It makes no sense to me, for example, to play the muffin tin game in the front yard.  I like this game, it makes them think. Sure in the beginning its just them following their nose. But I've seen it evolve, you can see the wheels turning in their head while trying to figure out how best to move the ball.

 By the way, a mini muffin tin with mini balls makes this an equal opportunity game.











The Novice Title, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert are all done wherever you choose with a witness signing off on it. A Trick Dog Champion title requires you send in an unedited video of you and your dog doing those tricks. Most of the later level tricks require props that I'm guessing the average owner just doesn't have. Well, I know, I don't have at least. The good news is some of the things are easily built at home. (Yes, DH now has a list of things he needs to build for me!)

Freeshaping

Isn't it funny when you start doing something and then suddenly that's all you see around you? That doesn't make much sense does it. Alright.

I've been working on hind end awareness. I decided to do daily 5 minute sessions with each dog. I started out luring then realized only a few were actually catching on. So, I switched to freeshaping. Then, I hear one friend is freeshaping. Then another. Then another is posting videos.

I have to admit, I never thought about taping our sessions, until I watched her videos. Taping it could only help. So I did.

I learned quite a few things doing that...

• I do get stage fright.
• The dogs are unsure of the camera.
• Jackson needs to be crated if he's not the one training. Otherwise, he wanders around and distracts everyone.
• The girls are easily distracted.
• I need better treats that they can eat more quickly.
• The background noise in my home, that I never notice, is pretty loud.
• I really need to raise 'the box' up so *I* don't miss paw movement.

Here's some stills from the videos!

There's no picture of Jackson. He really wasn't "in the game" during this session. So there wasn't a good shot. Unless you want to see his butt? I know it's a cute butt, but still. 

Rally cones, my great thrift store find! They're not heavy duty or 12", but they don't need to be for practice. So for now, since Jackson can't go to class, I can just bring class to him!!

Oh, how he's grown!

Breaking News!!

So, I decided I needed to work on training my daughter's dog, Adonis, since he lives here also. I crated the girls and worked on teaching Adonis "touch" and "mat". And oh my was Brianna creating a fuss in her crate. Kristyn took over with Adonis on "touch" while I "shushed" Brianna and gave her kibble as a reward. She took it... she ate it... she waited for more...

Alright, I decided to see if Brianna really wanted to work. In the crate goes Adonis, out comes Brianna. I pulled out the mat and sat down. She went right to it, I clicked and tossed her a kibble. She ate it. We did it again, she ate it, and again and again!!

What's the big deal you're thinking? Well then, you haven't been talking to me regarding training have you? Brianna isn't food motivated... at all. This is a girl that I spent countless hours just attempting to relax her enough to take a treat in class. This is a girl that spends the first half-hour of class maybe taking a treat. Mind you, those treats are usually - liver brownies, chicken cutlets, string cheese, roast beef.

 She'll tackle you for them and charlie bears and other assorted goodies at home, in the yard, maybe in the car. But kibble??? As a training treat?? Not if your life depended on it!!

I'm just wow, I ended the session on a good note and can only hope it wasn't a fluke!

At home stuff

It never fails. People are always shocked at their dogs' behavior in public. "But they never do that at home." In training class, its the most fun, "But they do it at home no problems." My girls are no different. What they do willingly and/or eagerly at home doesn't always translate to what they'll do in public. But since its bitter cold out today, with a freezing wind, we tested/trained only at home.

Just like when we go to training class, they know what one on one training means. Everyone else gets crated, clicker comes out, maybe treats are pulled out of the cabinet, these are all signs that we're about to work!

I'm going to use The Levels Training for the purpose of getting them through the basics and the foundation for everything else. There's also a neat website that takes you step by step for testing and training each level and marking how they did. Yes, I'm doing that too. I figure the more I put into it, the better we'll work together.

Kali

• Come  - was easy for her. She anticipated early on what was going to happen next! (We worked on this last due to needing to use treats.)
  
• Down - I started with the down with no treats or clicker around. Easy for her!
• Sit - same thing, no treats, no clicker yet.
• Target - she does a nose touch and a target stick touch no problems! 
• Zen - to me, zen is the same as "leave it". Again, she has no problems with this.
• Handling - another no-brainer, she loves getting attention.
• Watch - her watch is intense!
  

  What still needs work...

• Come from 40' away. This was laziness on my part, I didn't want to move another area of the house.
• Distance - (going around a pole) We haven't worked on this at all yet.
• Stays - I'm not too concerned at the moment with 'stay' at home. In class, she does them fine. Just another example of dogs not generalizing well...
• Stand 

 Tina

• Come - she anticipated my call but ran back slowly to my partner.
• Down - I think I need to clean up the cue for this, she seemed uncertain at one point what I wanted.
• Sit - easy 
• Target - she does love targeting, Tina's all about nose action
• Zen  - if by zen you mean 'omg, totally avoid object and move away from it' she's got this one down pat!
• Handling - this is Tina we're talking about, she's a lovebug!
• Stay - the absolute best stay out of all my girls!
• Watch - this took a long time to get her to accept, Tina never liked eye contact, but now, she's got it!!
  

  What still needs work...

• Come - from 40' away, I was lazy, we established that...
• Distance - she still needs to just learn this one.
• Stand

Astra 

• Come - We got down on our knees to encourage her to come closer to us. She did very well.
• Down - Might have gone better had I stayed on my knees. I'll remember that for next time. She downs, just not from her original place.. she only wants to do a 'front' down.
  
• Sit - easy
• Target - she loves this also! More so now that I've got a neat target stick to use.
  
• Zen - easy!
• Watch - she'll stare holes into you if you let her!
  

  What needs work...

• Come - from 40' away.. (me lazy, remember?)
• Distance
• Stays  - she saw no reason whatsoever to not follow me... 
• Handling - I've been working on this since she was a puppy. But its hard to convince a 5lb papillon that big hands reaching out to her are okay.
• Stand

Brianna

• Come - she couldn't have moved any faster for this
• Down - without using treats, she was still throwing herself to the ground by the end of this test.
• Sit  
• Target - target = touch. Brianna loves the touch game. It's a great way to refocus her during class.
• Zen - this always requires a leave it cue for her.
• Handling - "yes, touch me please"
• Watch - She's even learned to move her body to maintain eye contact.
  

  What still needs work...

• Come - from 40' away (are you really surprised at this point?)
• Distance
• Stay  - stay in public vs stay at home are two different things for her...
  
• Stand

I didn't bother doing any of the leash exercises. Cause really, how often do you stand around your house with your dog on leash and they don't behave???

We have started over training "go to mat". I found two oversized thin kitchen towels to use. I grabbed about 15 treats and clicked for any interaction with the towel. By the last treat, each of them was laying down with at least their front paws on the 'mat'. That's a pretty good start I think. Eventually, they're going to work up to laying down 2 to a towel... For now though, practice is still one on one.

I would say they ARE crate trained yet not. For times like this, training time, they all go eagerly into their crates and wait patiently for their turn. For feeding times, same scenario. I want to work more on 'get in crate - mom leaves room - girls remain calm'

Overall, not bad I'd say.

Starting Over

With the new year coming, I've found myself thinking about what I want to achieve with my little fur musketeers in the year to come. I created this blog in the hopes of making myself a little more accountable towards those goals. My wonderful canines and I hope you enjoy our journey.

There are lots of little things and some pretty big things I would like to work on to be able to have four well-rounded canine companions and possibly two competitors. They each are so different in personality that there is no one cure-all for their issues or mine.

We're going to go back to basics and just start over. Thankfully, we have lots of tools we can use, the training levels, their training classes and this blog! I'm hoping that by rebuilding their foundations, we can make the progress that we had hoped to make this past year.