Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Nobody at the park last night, as predicted. I'll try again this afternoon, but not holding my breath. Although it's a day off school for the kids, so you never know. Failing that I'll try going "downtown" to see if I can get him to focus on me in the midst of the heaving humanity there.....heh I'll be lucky if I get one gran toddling past but oh well. Come to think of it, perhaps I'll park myself in front of a restaurant at noon, lots of people going in and out and food smells to boot....that might be good distractions!!
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Good luck today Lisa let us know how you do ...kind of what Julie and Barbara were saying I really concentrated on 'look at me ' when we were starting to work on the lead reactivity issue....everything tightened up then .....we ve actually nailed it to the point that I have to hide behind a screen at training if chris is working with him because he looks at me when chris gives him a cue ;D I just got this from rewarding every little glance at me ...starting from in the house,if Dex looked at me he got a c&t .....let us know how you get on....I really hope you get to go to class x
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? He did pretty good at the restaurant yesterday, but no people going in and out, unfortunately. I got there a little late. But I went through some sit/stay/leave it/lie down....took a second or two for him to focus as doing all this in a new location and outside was new to him, but once he understood what I wanted he was fine. Two hours till the drop in....not sure how he'll do with the other dogs around. :-\ Oh well it will be interesting to see, anyway. I'll let you know!
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Either he'll be fab, in which case that's great. Or you'll come away having made a little bit of progress so you are better next time. You win, either way - which is always the case when you get out and try something.
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? So, we're in! there were only a few other dogs there, but we got there first so he had a good chance to sniff around before the others came. He was interested in the other dogs, but no craziness. And he was able to focus on me pretty well. We worked on the (admittedly) small repitoire of things he knows, ie sit, stay, leave it, heel, and pray (kinda hard to explain). I did these far away from the other dogs and close as well, he was fine. We played around on the agility equipment a bit, i got him to hop over the jumps and eventually got brave enough to drop the keash and try some "stays", which he did perfectly. So tried some "sit/stay come over the jumps to me" and he did great, mostly. Here he is contemplating a jump, he's not exactly looking at me but this is near the end and the owner was going in and out of the door so he was a bit distracted. image by psalmone1, on Flickr So, classes start Dec. 2 and I'm all signed up!! Really excited, i have ALWAYS wanted to do activities with my dog, finally, i get a chance!!
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Hooray!!!! That's wonderful. Well done to a great team! I'm sure you'll have lots of fun there together.
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Yay! That is so good! I know how you feel - I was so convinced I would get kicked out of my first class for having a hooligan I couldn't believe it when we were ok. Sounds like Simba did you proud! I'm really thrilled for you.
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? That's fabulous! Well done both of you, you're going to have lots of fun with your pooch ;D
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Gosh Lisa....this is REALLY good to be reading. So pleased for you and Simba xxx
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Thanks, Naya, it's okay. Sore, but manageable. Don't know that I can risk a walk on slippery streets today, though, morning exercise might have to be a quick session with my Throw Thingy out in the back yard
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Im so pleased everything went so well Lisa. Brilliant. ;D. Well done Simba. ;D I'm sure you'll both have lots of fun. Not long to wait. ;D
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? I'm so slow catching up,I just got distracted this week and I'm annoyed because this was news I was really waiting for.Love the picture,Simba is so good looking and love that you are all signed up for some fun together...Simba sounds like he did brilliant,not just at class but also at the restaurant...I know from my doggie coffee dates it's not a bad thing to start quietly ....Dexter could cope with people once he was happy with his surroundings ...he'd have been wary and distracted if people had been involved on our first couple of visits .... xxx
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Yes, he did great, Angela, thanks! Watch this space for news on Tuesday's adventure....
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? We'll the first class went pretty good, although some of the first tricks we worked on were things I already knew or had at least started working on, so that made it easier. We worked on: Sit Hand touch/target Shake paw Spin Weave (through legs) Bow We have a solid sit and shake paw, and I have already started weave, just for fun, though it is nowhere near perfect. The trainer showed us how to start the trick and demonstrated with her own dog and then we worked on them individually, and she went around and gave us pointers. There is only 4 of us in the class, so lots of one on one. Simba did great as far as not being distracted by the other dogs, as long as I had treats he was happy to work for them : He caught on to spin (turn in a circle, clockwise and counter-clockwise) pretty well, although most of his failings on that (and to be true, any of the other ones we had trouble with) were due more to my failings than his. We used the treat in our hand as a lure, just to start, and then quickly faded the lure out, using the clicker as reinforcement as the dog followed the hand motion. Simba could spin clockwise better than the other way, but as I said that was mainly due to my fumbling. Also that was near the beginning and I still had him on leash so it was awkward holding leash, clicker, and treat and making spin motion with the hand. After awhile I just dropped the leash as Simba didn't need it. We didn't do hand target at all, the other ladies in the class had that one down so that's one for me to work on at home. As I said, the weave is one I have started already, so he didn't do too bad. I need to work on getting more repetitions before the treat, and to make it smoother. Bow was the hardest - have never done this and it's tricky to distinguish bow from down, in the dog's mind. And he was mugging at me hand and pawing at it to get the treat to start with, but by the end I had achieved a slight bend of the elbows with the bum still up so I called it good for now. By this time it was the end if the hour so he was getting tired and pretty full of treats, so it was harder. It was fun! Now I have some things to work on this week, I'll keep you posted as to how it goes. All of this is a bit silly, I suppose, but it's giving us something to do INSIDE during the cold winter months and strengthening the relationship between us, so all good! Here's a link to the website explaining the Trick Dog titles: http://www.domorewithyourdog.com And here's some videos of people who have used the program to do fun things with their dogs (scroll down the page http://www.domorewithyourdog.com/pages/allstartc.html#Project
