Jumping on the bandwagon of “please hold me to account” training threads, here is mine. I can't do any work in the garden or outside yet, so everything has to be in the house. In June, I’m going to: 1) Nail a perfect doggie teeth cleaning routine once and for all – benefiting Charlie for the rest of his life for just one month’s work. 2) Improve the bits of total recall in the house that could have been better when I did them first time (recall away from exciting visitors, a fast recall away from food, recall from sleep – currently nil points for this) in preparation for moving off lead at the end of the month. 3) Change my “sit” command to “hup” and embed this properly up to 3 minutes with distractions in the house (and everyone else can continue to tell him to sit and then allow him to get up whenever he wants – hup will be mine). 4) Repeat my being quiet with new visitors – as he is allowed to have some visitors this month (yes, I have banned anyone coming to the house since February!). 5) Establish a straight hup (heel to my left from wherever he is) getting him to bend his recovering knee properly every time. I’ll stop the thread at the end of June and this gives me a proper deadline to do what I say I will. I’ll do my starting vids of teeth cleaning this afternoon. If anyone wants to join me on the teeth cleaning journey (or anything else of course), the company would be gratefully received as it’s the one I find the most boring!
Re: Charlie's June Training Sounds great We do a heeling game in the house - Obi heels, gets a treat, I say 'wait', then run off, then say 'heel' again. All in an upbeat and fun way. Kind of like he has to catch or tag me by heeling.
Re: Charlie's June Training 3) Change my “sit” command to “hup” and embed this properly up to 3 minutes with distractions in the house (and everyone else can continue to tell him to sit and then allow him to get up whenever he wants – hup will be mine). can i suggest that you don't make it known that you're going to do this round to the 'everyone else's. The reason i say that is that i've got experience here and it's definitely a curates egg. I've had to do this several times with children and husband who have a habit of issuing commands and not following them through or indeed saying them 30 times over before a response is received. Within a week if you've informed them you're going to do it, or a few more weeks if you've kept it under your hat they start using yours. they see it works (even if you've told them they're not allowed to use it) and then just start stealing it, mostly behind your back when they really need something to work and work fast. then they start to abuse it and before you know it, the new word has the ability to work of the word 'honey'. my dogs' names are so overused it's incredible. my youngest chants them like a mantra on a walk, driving me crazy and meaning that the dogs have no knowledge of what the word actually means any more. it's just white noise. Several dog trainers have said that they're fully capable of discerning between you saying it and your husband (for example) saying it. personally i think the word gets connotations and its specialness removed. the only way i've been able to keep hold of the specialness is to use hand signals and the whistle. no child is allowed a whistle without my say so. husband gets knacked if he uses it unacceptably and indeed gets banned for periods. Hand signals aren't really interesting to others for some reason (my youngest has verbal diarrhoea) but Eevee dog really likes hand signals. she finds them far easier than words. This got long but i just wanted to share my bitter experience. I wish you luck for june. i'm sure you won't need it. if i may i'll join you on the three minutes with distractions in the house. Eevee moves a lot - she's a mobile dog and this one needs major work. Sarah
Re: Charlie's June Training I'm going to have a go at the 'three minutes with distractions' - at the moment Tatze can do two minutes without distractions so it won't be easy!
Re: Charlie's June Training Very good tips, Sarah, my new commands will remain a guarded secret! Two people already will join for 3 minute sit with distractions! Brill! Thank you. That already makes me feel more motivated (or "arrrghhhh...don't be too hopeless Charlie! I've got to video it!" ;D ;D ;D ). I'll try the heel game, Rachael, for sure. Still getting that knee bent using a wall right now, still haven't moved away from the wall! But a moving game can be my ambition.
Re: Charlie's June Training Goodness Julie, this really truly has been a journey for you, your OH and Charlie. I bet letting him off the lead again is going to be VERY daunting. Good luck, and I can't wait to see your teeth cleaning video…
Re: Charlie's June Training O! O! O! Sorry, boast post with no shame. I snuck ahead! Went to do another teeth cleaning exercise, and there was Charlie, rock still and focussed on OH's beef sandwich. I blew my recall (my whistle was round my neck with my clicker). First time Charlie has heard his recall in months. He took off like a rocket across the kitchen towards me! Luckily I had a sea biscuit in my pocket, but anyway, he enjoyed the celebration dance round!
Re: Charlie's June Training Heeeey , hey baby, Hoo ha! I wanna knooooooow if you'll be my boy! I hope you got the tune in your head to go with that narrative?If not it loses effect somewhat! I've done a celebration dance for you too because I know this has been a worry for you x good boy Charlie x
Re: Charlie's June Training Excellent Charlie and I hope the sea biscuit was better then that roast beef sandwich ;D That must be a huge relief for you Julie x
Re: Charlie's June Training [quote author=Dexter link=topic=6284.msg83793#msg83793 date=1401551900] Heeeey , hey baby, Hoo ha! I wanna knooooooow if you'll be my boy! [/quote] It is now! ;D ;D ;D Big relief! I'm not going to just "see if it works" in the middle of Wimbledon common though! I'll work up to that gradually!
Re: Charlie's June Training [quote author=JulieT link=topic=6284.msg83789#msg83789 date=1401551382] O! O! O! Sorry, boast post with no shame. I snuck ahead! Went to do another teeth cleaning exercise, and there was Charlie, rock still and focussed on OH's beef sandwich. I blew my recall (my whistle was round my neck with my clicker). First time Charlie has heard his recall in months. He took off like a rocket across the kitchen towards me! Luckily I had a sea biscuit in my pocket, but anyway, he enjoyed the celebration dance round! [/quote] Excellent 8)
Re: Charlie's June Training Oh well done! Great job Charlie! I think I would have stollen the beef sandwich and given it to him. Great jack pot. OH could make a new one right???
Re: Charlie's June Training (I'm keen to say my rugs are "emergency rugs" and not my normal taste). ok, moving on to recall while I wait for the teeth cleaning socks to arrive. A modified version of Total Recall exercise 3 - two person recall from room to room I think it's little bit more difficult though because each person is feeding him, and has a handful of treats, so we are also recalling him away from a person with food. He did this as well as he ever did - he hasn't forgotten it at all it seems. The down side of this exercise used to be if he is left to his own devices, he will run to the other person even without them giving his recall (in which case he gets no reward) - which is another reason we keep feeding to keep him until the other person gives the recall. https://www.flickr.com/photos/97932779@N08/14316786481/ We aim to do a few exercises every day - we'll both try recalling him away from a fresh out of the oven roast chicken tonight.
Re: Charlie's June Training At Helen's suggestion I have split of the Teeth cleaning part of this to a new thread - I hope a] That is okay with you.... b] That it worked Charlie's June Training - Teeth Cleaning
Re: Charlie's June Training So, after being faultless and fast on his recalls in the house, and in the garden (which is very small)...and it's 15 weeks now...and OH has been running with him on lead for the last week. We decided tonight, to let him have just one trot off lead. Eeeek! Scary, and exciting. But has to be done. We found a smooth earth path up at the common. Checked a billion times there were no other dogs. And gave him a long walk beforehand. OH walked 15m ahead, and turned to face me and Charlie. Charlie knows this game - his favourite. A recall between me and OH. And that was exactly the idea. 2 x 15m recalls, one to OH, then back to me. I released Charlie. He took off like a rocket. The noise of his galloping paws was incredible! He got to OH in a microsecond, cornered round him, and headed back to me. Round me on two paws and back to OH going a billions miles an hour. On his return, I threw an entire pocket of salmon strips, sea wraps and sea biscuits in his path. It made no difference. Round OH again, I swear I heard screeching.... On the next return, the salmon strips did it, and I snapped the lead back on. Much examining and having him walk up and down. He's fine. Big phew. I was just thinking this afternoon after all this being calm business, for so long, maybe my hooligan had lost his drive and energy. No. HE IS A TOTAL HOOLIGAN. ;D ;D ;D
