Re: daily routine [quote author=bbrown link=topic=3295.msg35717#msg35717 date=1384529327] on a difficult Friday afternoon 8) [/quote] I hope your weekend glass of wine isn't far away...
Re: daily routine The method Barbara describes is how I start to teach heel (sit at left and stay by my left). Walls, fences, corners - use them all to teach your dog where he is meant to be. Can you put up a video of you trying to get Charlie into the heel position using a lure? What do you mean that he does it when you use the stop whistle but not otherwise? When you are using the stop whistle is he already in the heel position (but moving)? Are you saying that he understands 'when you are walking by my left side and I tell you to stop you must sit' but not 'heel means come from wherever you are and sit by my left side'? I am interested in what is happening when you try to lure with food. What happens when you try to lure with the dummy or a desirable toy?
Re: daily routine Thanks so much - Rachael and Barbara - I am struggling. [quote author=Oberon link=topic=3295.msg35733#msg35733 date=1384537069] What do you mean that he does it when you use the stop whistle but not otherwise? When you are using the stop whistle is he already in the heel position (but moving)? [/quote] Yes, we are walking along, I blow my stop whistle, he sits down. Or I say sit. I mean I don't generally have a problem with his sitting position on my left. It's ok. [quote author=Oberon link=topic=3295.msg35733#msg35733 date=1384537069] Are you saying that he understands 'when you are walking by my left side and I tell you to stop you must sit' but not 'heel means come from wherever you are and sit by my left side'? [/quote] Yes, that's it. Apart from if he is already to my left, or behind me and left, he will come and sit on my left with his body facing forwards and his head angled up hoping for a treat (I think that's fine). He gets "heel" means come and sit. But not come and sit on my left if you happen to be on my right. And if he is in front of me, he tends to sit facing me. [quote author=Oberon link=topic=3295.msg35733#msg35733 date=1384537069] Can you put up a video of you trying to get Charlie into the heel position using a lure? [/quote] Yes, will try tomorrow. He doesn't follow food if I move it away from him. I think this is because we worked so hard on "leave it" "take it" with food, that if we move food away from him, he waits to be asked to take it! I can definitely show you on trying (and failing) to lure him off a mat on a release command, and will try rope OH in to do the heel vid. It's a general problem. [quote author=Oberon link=topic=3295.msg35733#msg35733 date=1384537069] What happens when you try to lure with the dummy or a desirable toy? [/quote] Ooo - haven't tried. If I tried with a dummy he'd mug me - I keep the dummy hidden when not in use. Actually, we keep all toys hidden because he jumps up and snatches. Right. They would probably work as lures then. Sorry, I'm slow! : :
Re: daily routine Right now I am confused I thought you were not meant to blow your stop whistle whilst your dog was walking beside you as this won't help when you blow it at any distance as your dog may want to come back to you? Of course I have probably got hold of the wrong end of the stick for a change :
Re: daily routine [quote author=charlie link=topic=3295.msg35740#msg35740 date=1384538937] Right now I am confused I thought you were not meant to blow your stop whistle whilst your dog was walking beside you as this won't help when you blow it at any distance as your dog may want to come back to you? Of course I have probably got hold of the wrong end of the stick for a change : [/quote] Ooo - dunno. My trainer taught me to get him to sit when walking along and I stopped, and working up to walking along, blowing the stop whistle, dropping the lead and keep walking. That's what we are doing now. I can do stop at a distance because all I have to do is hold up a dummy, he immediately freezes fixed on the dummy, and I say sit, and he does. That came out of the early steadiness training.
Re: daily routine Also, I'm supposed to be doing an exercise where I recall Charlie then blow the stop whistle and step forward firmly with my hand raised in a stop/stay signal. WGT#2 demonstrated this (with her fab dog who had his bum on the ground before she'd blown the stop whistle almost... ;D). But I haven't done this because a) Charlie's recall is not quite as fast as it was and I'm working on that and b) his sit isn't as steady as I want it so am not recalling him off a sit yet.
Re: daily routine [quote author=JulieT link=topic=3295.msg35742#msg35742 date=1384539142] [quote author=charlie link=topic=3295.msg35740#msg35740 date=1384538937] Right now I am confused I thought you were not meant to blow your stop whistle whilst your dog was walking beside you as this won't help when you blow it at any distance as your dog may want to come back to you? Of course I have probably got hold of the wrong end of the stick for a change : [/quote] Ooo - dunno. My trainer taught me to get him to sit when walking along and I stopped, and working up to walking along, blowing the stop whistle, dropping the lead and keep walking. That's what we are doing now. I can do stop at a distance because all I have to do is hold up a dummy, he immediately freezes fixed on the dummy, and I say sit, and he does. That came out of the early steadiness training. [/quote] I think I may have asked this question before so please forgive me if that's the case, does this mean you can practise the stop whistle at kerb sides and gates etc. ? [quote author=JulieT link=topic=3295.msg35745#msg35745 date=1384540239] Also, I'm supposed to be doing an exercise where I recall Charlie then blow the stop whistle and step forward firmly with my hand raised in a stop/stay signal. WGT#2 demonstrated this (with her fab dog who had his bum on the ground before she'd blown the stop whistle almost... ;D). But I haven't done this because a) Charlie's recall is not quite as fast as it was and I'm working on that and b) his sit isn't as steady as I want it so am not recalling him off a sit yet. [/quote] With this one I can verbally recall my Charlie, tell him 'sit' with hand signal when he is coming towards me, and stop him half way most of the time, a work in progress : could I use my stop whistle to do that or is that a little too soon and maybe I should say 'stop' instead of 'sit'. Oh the confusion
Re: daily routine So this is all my opinion and specific to Riley and I. For me sit and stop are the same thing. I blow one fairly long peep and it means put your bum on the floor. The challenge lies in getting that peep to mean that no matter what the dog is doing or where he is! So to start it is a sit whistle by my side when I have also stopped. Then it's a sit from heel but I keep moving....then I add speed...you're getting picture by now This whistle ALWAYS means put your bum on the floor so I could blow this peep whenever I want a sit, kerbside or gates would be fine by my rules. My next challenge is getting the dog to sit at a distance. First I waited til Riley was bumbling around, then he'd check on me and I'd ask for a sit. Then I have slowly added complexity....movement, distance etc I don't stop Riley on a recall very often as it makes his recall uncertain. I also don't pretend to put a dummy down as I am still building his trust that he will always find something if I send him. I have used a dummy where an assistant can beat Riley to the dummy if he doesn't stop. This is different as he can clearly see the dummy but isn't allowed it. I also stand between Riley and the dummy and stop him. His reward for doing either of these is another dummy thrown out to the side. That's an overview of what we do and I've taken a lot of advice.....sometimes a suggested method isn't a good fit for your dog so I would always say do what works for you....there are quite a lot of different ways to do this ;D
Re: daily routine Thank you Barbara I wonder if this could be moved and re-titled so that we can refer to it when necessary. You are a star now go and have a glass of wine x
Re: daily routine Well, my day is nowhere near as energetic as most of you. My day today: 6am Harley wakes up. I go downstairs, let her out of her cage, open back door (to which she usually ignores), I turn around and she's curled up on sofa, pick up her bed and take to our bedroom to sleep til 7.15am - Harley wakes me then hubby 7.30am breakfast for Harley, 10 mins play with hubby til he leaves for work, quick wee outside Back on sofa napping with me til about 9am 9.15am - Harley goes into the garden where next doors puppies escaped through the gate into mine to play for at least 30-45 mins 10am off to work for me - kong then snooze for Harley 11.30am I get back from work, Harley goes for wee then we play in the garden 1pm lunch for Harley and me 1.15pm - back to work for me, snooze for Harley 3.15pm I get back from work, do some training but Harley was restless so 3.30pm out for a walk to the park and field - met next door over there so we did some very productive training with both puppies 4.30pm get home, Harley mooches around in the garden 5pm Harley gets on sofa, lies her head on me and snoozes til hubby came home 6.30pm Harley suddenly wakes up as hears hubby's van so runs to front door to greet him 6.30-7pm play time for Harley with hubby, then watched hubby cook tea 7.30pm tea for all of us 8pm play time for Harley with hubby 8.45pm Harley is now on the sofa again, head in my lap ready to nod off again It is amazing how much my life now revolves around Harley.......I even book any meetings I have around her meal times, lol. Wouldn't change it for the world though
Re: daily routine Yes, I am in awe of all of you and your dedication to training....putting me to shame... today's activities (pretty typical, although I don't exercise every day) 6:45 AM get up, go out in yard to keep eye on the Escape Artist and wait for him to pee. Brrr... 7:00 - 8:00 I relax, have tea and breakfast, Simba snoozes 8:00-20 walk around the neighbourhood, followed by breakfast for pooch 8:30-9:30 exercise (me) and shower, etc. Me work on computer, Simba snoozing until 11:00. I take pooch out side for a wee. 11:30 I have lunch. Noon I have a teleconference until 1:30, followed by walk. After that I have to go get groceries, pick up girl from school, get ready for supper, etc. Simba playing with girl, chewing on toys, playing with hubs when he gets home. After supper (Simba has his dinner too) we all (humans only)go out for a couple hours, then at 8 we get home and hubs and I take pooch for a walk in the snow that's coming down heavily at the moment! 8:40 now, and Simba is chewing on a bone and the rest of us settling down for the TV curled under blankets... Yeesh I did no training today....ack....#fail!!!! :-[
Re: daily routine [quote author=Oberon link=topic=3295.msg35733#msg35733 date=1384537069] Can you put up a video of you trying to get Charlie into the heel position using a lure? [/quote] This video is likely to make you seasick! I have got a stand but I couldn't set it up to show what was happening. And OH threw dummies all morning for me (steadiness) and he wasn't up for doing more doggy stuff. So it's the best I could do. First two "heels" he starts on my left hand side and sits with his body facing forwards (it doesn't look like that but it's just the angle of the ipad). Third time I say "heel" he is on my right, he walks round to my left but then sits facing me. I want to lure him at this point to adjust his position. Looking back at this, maybe I should close my fist so he can't get the food, and have the food right on his nose? I'm off to try and see whether that works. Or maybe I need to rethink the whole thing? I suspect I might be trying to take this in too big steps (usually happens when I'm feeling under pressure because I've got a lesson coming up). I would never normally say "take it" as I do at the end - I did this just to show why I think the reason he doesn't follow the food it because he is waiting for me to say take it. http://www.flickr.com/photos/97932779@N08/10906864614/ I have GOT to make more progress! I'm supposed to be able to step round 360 degrees in quarters and Charlie adjust his position! Inhale. Calm down. Have a think.... : : :
Re: daily routine Julie, I don't know if this will help, but I pat my left leg so that Hattie and especially Charlie know where I want them to be and then treat. Heidrun suggested this to me sometime ago and it works
Re: daily routine After my last couple of days I just want to make an amendment to my daily routine ;D ;D ;D It is as follows.....: Dexter's excercise and meals are always just so,I never compromise on his walks he always gets plenty but if my days change and time is short it's training that is cut...apart from I practice things we can already do on our walks....so please don't think I'm a structured training machine over here in Dubai ;D I wish I was !we've been at a standstill for about a month now but we are going to pick up from here on in ,unless tomorrow goes pear shaped too!my niece was sick today so I was doing the pick ups and drop offs for my sister
Re: daily routine [quote author=charlie link=topic=3295.msg36083#msg36083 date=1384706563] Julie, I don't know if this will help, but I pat my left leg so that Hattie and especially Charlie know where I want them to be and then treat. Heidrun suggested this to me sometime ago and it works [/quote] I emptied my cleaning cupboard - it's a square space that I can stand up in, a little bigger than a phone box. Me and Charlie shut ourselves in with SARDINES. It's messy. But it works. The smell is overpowering. I turn 180 degrees so Charlie is on my right, facing backwards. I hold sardines just in front of my left leg. He cracks after about a minute and walks behind me to sit squished against my left leg (he has no other choice). Hurrah. Repeat, more sardines! It works! Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! We'll try going anticlockwise tomorrow. OH falls over hoover and mop bucket outside. Opens door to see me and my dog and sardines squished in small cupboard. Instead of asking me for a divorce, he just says "Hello. What's for supper?". ;D ;D ;D
Re: daily routine Im terrible at training Otis, however, I met a police dog trainer in the park, who really helped me with getting him to heel, and it was different to the way the puppy school had taught me, no treats involved. You simply have the lead crossing your body so dog to one side and handle of lead in the other, when he goes to far out of position you can use one hand to pull the lead towards you, its really easy to do, and say heel at the same time, its the hand thats not holding the end of the lead, your spare hand , to pull the lead back. You can always do this in combination with treats, I always get Otis to sit on the kerbside, and treat him then.
Re: daily routine So i think your small room is a good idea as it only allows him to take the position you want. The other thing i might try is when you're in space and he comes round to your left take a couple of steps before his bum swings out, then sit which he usually does in the correct position. Then gradually travel less distance, hopefully he will twig that he's supposed to stay alongside. Just a possibility Also do you ask him to stay at heel while you walk at different speeds. I thought riley's heelwork wasn't too bad until i had to walk reeeeeaaaally slowly in a line as you would in a walked up shoot. I think heelwork at a slow pace might also help you here...... just some thoughts, everything crossed WGT2 is happy with all your hard work
Re: daily routine Thanks, Barbara, really helpful. I'll try all of that. Maggie - it's my silly terminology, we're not working on walk at heel (which we can do), I messed up the order of my training and I'm getting Charlie, off lead and wherever he is, to come sit at heel and I want him dead straight so I can then send him for a retrieve.
Re: daily routine Ah I see. Mmm Otis and I are still at the basics end of training. Got to add Charlie is my favourite dog, he just looks so cuddly ! Otis is a very snuggly dog, but not quite so chunky as Charlie (said as a compliment !).
