Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Yay! I saw your vid with the last link - good bow! So glad you are having a good time with this.
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Yes, it's fun, and it's giving me motivation to do daily training with the pooch, which is good!
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? That's really good Lisa! impressed. Gosh videos definitely inspire more than just text for me. Let me find the clicker........
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Aw Lisa that's brilliant and look at that focus from Simba - love it!! xxx
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Simba is doing great Lisa. You both seem to be enjoying it and I think it's such a great way to build a bond and develop focus. I'm glad it's going so well. ;D
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? So, last night's report... We started with demonstrating how we were doing with our tricks. Well.....we didn't do so great. :-[ We had just got there, and pooch had no opportunity to sniff around or do anything but sit and listen for a moment while the trainer gave her opening remarks, and we watched two other dogs do their stuff, when it was our turn Simba was much more interested in wanting to have a sniff around. But I got his focus with a sit/shake paw, and then we did better. We definitely had the best "weave" ( not that it's a competition, mind :). This class we were going to work on shaping. I had an inward groan....shaping is not a fun exercise for us. She gave us each a plastic tub which we were supposed to click for any interaction, ie looking at it, sniffing it, touching it, etc. The end result was for the dog to have two paws on it. Hah. As it usually is, the exercise consisted of Simba standing stock still, eyes fixed on me. At home, this usually ends with Simba wandering off to his bed, as he is bored to tears. : The trainer helped me a bit, she tried, with moving around a bit, he would move, if he glanced at the tub she would click and then present the reward over the tub, eventually he would step on it and would get big rewards. I tried, I did get to where he would look down at the tub, but he would never voluntarily move past that, it was getting (in his mind) to be the trick where "I look down at tub and get a treat". If I waited for him to do something else, it wouldn't happen. Sigh. Anyhow our homework this week is to do the 101 Things To Do With a Box exercise, which I hope will help the pooch, but I suspect will consist of Simba staring at me over a box and then him wandering off. Heh. We also are to work on our previous tricks, and get started on the "two paws on an object". So slightly discouraging, but not anything I didn't know already. It will be interesting to see if we can get anywhere on this during the week.
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? It sounds just fine to me! That's your third class right? Hah - my third class my dog was still trying to drag me round room like a mad whirling dervish...he still does, sometimes... : You've got high expectations - and Simba is mostly living up to them! Simba is offering you something on shaping - his attention. It sounds like this is a very strong default and that's great. He just has to learn that now you want other things. He'll get it, don't worry. At class, if the dog adopts a default for more than 10 seconds, we do something to shake them out of it - throw a treat etc. We don't wait for them to disengage. If we are working with an object, throw the treat at the object and click as the dog goes for the treat. Just about anything, really...
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Lisa your bow is great.....he's such a lovely dog it's great to see him,he's a very clever looking boy,it brings a smile at the thought of you 2 staring at each other over a cardboard box ;D ......I reckon you will get much than that though x
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? It's a great bow. Are you allowed to lure him onto t by e box, or does that defeat the point of the exercise?
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Well she didn't want us to lure, as we were supposed to be working on shaping, but by midway of her having a try she did say I could maybe start with luring him onto the object as she tried to get him to do anything other than stare at her or follow her around the object, eyes focussed on the treat.... : I don't know what I'm going to use for an object to put his paws on this week....or for a box, to do out 101 Things, for that matter....hmmm.....
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? So, third class tonight. We started off by reviewing, pooch did okay, better than at the beginning of the class last week. Over the week we had worked on 101 Things to do with a Box, by the end of the week we had got to the point where he would start to offer behaviour, so feel like we made progress with that. We didn't demo that, though. The other tricks are going well, and I was very pleased in the last couple days that Simba got the two paws on the object (I use a low cardboard box) after the whole week of puzzlement on his part. But it suddenly "clicked" (hah) and he gets it now. So I was happy to demo that! Tonight we worked on "kiss"...pooch not interested...and jump (step) over something or through something, so agility jumps, or hoops, or a body part like legs or arm, etc. We worked on the agility jump, it went okay. Final thing of the night was the agility tunnel. Pooch was a bit tentative at first but he started to enjoy it, it seemed...and then we had our first bobble of the night. He was near the end of the tunnel, but hesitant, so I reached in to grab the harness to encourage him out, he turned and grabbed at my hand, like how he used to when we would grab the collar. :-\ And then he did it again, but this time to the trainer who was trying to encourage him out on the next attempt. So, in thinking about it I can understand where that came from, he was in the tunnel which he he never been in before, so probably a bit uncertain. But I feel a bit glum about it, I've worked so hard in helping him over that collar sensitivity, and it was not the collar, but the harness, which he has never reacted before. Anyhow it all ended on a good note, he went through the tunnel,a few times more and got the hang of it and seemed to enjoy it by the end. This is the last class until after Christmas...we will continue to work on everything we've done so far, adding the jump. Can't practice the tunnel, don't have one of those. I think I'll do some desensitization on the harness, too.... :-\
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? That's so cool that he's getting the hang of learning and shaping I'm not trying to downplay the seriousness of Simba grabbing at you and commend you for your desensitisation so far and your intentions after this incident. I would say though that it sounds like he was a bit stressed and probably mentally tired after trying so hard and he went to his old default behaviour. So, yes, take it seriously and take action as you intend but try not to dwell on it, he's come a long, long way xxx
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? He didnt bite you though Lisa, did he? So he was just showing that he felt really uncomfortable with the situation. I suppose in retrospect it would have been better to try and lure him out with a treat, rather than trying to pull him out. Next time, just give him time. On the whole it sounds like he is coming along well, I would say. Good idea too with the desensitization with the harness.
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? It sounds to be going great, overall! I wouldn't be glum about the grabbing of the hand - sounds like he was uncertain, in a very strange tunnel, in a class situation which is also new etc. etc. I'd maybe think about circumstances that might make him a bit stressed but, as Karen says, it's not like he bit you or anything like that.
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? I think you are doing a fab job with Simba everyone has hiccups, but it's how you deal with it that counts
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Lisa, you have come such a long way with Simba so don't despair. When I went to agility with Charlie there was a tunnel and the trainer insisted we have a toy that was just for agility, Charlie had a squeeky ball on a bungie, I would wait at the end of the tunnel squeeking it whilst the trainer kept hold of Charlie and we would build his excitement, I immediately threw the ball away from the tunnel the second he came out the end. We were not allowed to grab our dog. Do you have a favourite toy you could use just for your classes? xx
