I am currently stuck as what to I can teach barley, he knows loads of tricks and that already but he can only do all small amount of them now due to his hips and him being a grumpy middle aged man. Our training sessions are getting really boring, for the both of us and i am stuck as to what we can do. Our sessions now mostly consist of left and right paws, touches, stays and whatch me's which we are both getting bored of. Before his legs got worse we were doing work on his sit's,down's and stand's without moving too far forward and working at a distance, but we can't do that now , or more to the point of he wont do it as it is obviously causing him pain getting up and down. Any ideas or suggestions would be great
Re: What can we do? This is a bit left field but how about having a break over Christmas? It's not long til New Year and hopefully the x-rays then you'll know what your plan is for Barley's health and you can factor training into that
Re: What can we do? Must say I was thinking the same… Let the old boy rest up a bit. If his joints are bothering him, perhaps he doesn't feel much like training at present. Just let him chill, go for little walks, cuddle up with you…
Re: What can we do? I would like to have a break but he is getting bored, that's why i am trying to do some work with him. he either gets a short road walk or no walk at all and wants attention, he many entertain himself for 10mins chewing on his stag bar but he then gets bored. he has got a wobbler and treat ball but ghets bored of them as well, he will only unstuff a kong if someone holds it for him. he has already started to chew his bed again because he is fustrated and bored, but if you take him out for a walk he does not want to go.
Re: What can we do? Maybe you could learn some soothing massage techniques which would give him attention and relaxation rather than training sessions.
Re: What can we do? [quote author=heidrun link=topic=3637.msg40865#msg40865 date=1386846974] Maybe you could learn some soothing massage techniques which would give him attention and relaxation rather than training sessions. [/quote] Already do that, he gets some TTouch every day then a 1/2 hour massage session every other day at the moment, it used to be twice a week but since he got worse i have upped it
Re: What can we do? How about three cups upside down, hide a treat under one and let him find the right cup?
Re: What can we do? Annabelle my brain game book has armchair excercises for older ,less flexible dogs... Sneeze and retreive....place a tissue on the floor,pretend to sneeze and the dog brings you the tissue There's a 'say your prayers 'which is basically a 'beg' position with paws together on a verbal pray,that might hurt his legs though? At dinner time,teach him to bring his bowl to you before you fill it? There's a bring a tv remote control game so you can change the channel.. If any of these pique your interest or you think are appropriate,I'll send you more details x
Re: What can we do? Some of them sound interesting angela, some there would be problems with. Sneeze and retrieve - barley would eat the tissue Say your prayers - he sort of knows that one already, it is not perfected, but he gets the main jist of it, well he did when we last practiced it which was ages ago. Dinner time bowl fetch - his bowl is never left down, and his food is prepared the evening before, one bowl for breakfast, the other bowl for tea. he also does not like holding things Tv remote - this would be more suited to puzzle as she has a desire to fetch. We might try and practice our hold, he has a plastic dumbbell for this, it rarely sees light, as he does not like holding, i might ry with his fluffy pheasant though. stacia i will see how he takes to that, sometimes he is too smart for his own good :
Re: What can we do? [quote author=Stacia link=topic=3637.msg40921#msg40921 date=1386874899] How about three cups upside down, hide a treat under one and let him find the right cup? [/quote] This was the only trick I had any motivation to do - looks fun. One smashed clay pot, a scratch on the sideboard from impact with clay pot, and a puppy who now puts his paw (and claws) on anything he wants, has revised my opinion for me.... ;D ;D ;D
Re: What can we do? [quote author=JulieT link=topic=3637.msg40933#msg40933 date=1386878083] [quote author=Stacia link=topic=3637.msg40921#msg40921 date=1386874899] How about three cups upside down, hide a treat under one and let him find the right cup? [/quote] This was the only trick I had any motivation to do - looks fun. One smashed clay pot, a scratch on the sideboard from impact with clay pot, and a puppy who now puts his paw (and claws) on anything he wants, has revised my opinion for me.... ;D ;D ;D [/quote] Barley will do that if you put a football in front of him, or a cone as we found that out at training when we had to practice sending the dogs away to a cone, barley decided to take a different version of it by walking up to the cone and batting it to make it fall over, the trainer liked his version
Re: What can we do? Along the lines of Stacia's suggestions, what about doing a bit of research on scent work type exercises?
Re: What can we do? [quote author=bbrown link=topic=3637.msg40950#msg40950 date=1386881470] You could just use a bit of cloth. Would he eat that? [/quote] most things he will shread if given a chance [quote author=Oberon link=topic=3637.msg40948#msg40948 date=1386881350] Along the lines of Stacia's suggestions, what about doing a bit of research on scent work type exercises? [/quote] i will see what google comes up with, thank you
Re: What can we do? [quote author=heidrun link=topic=3637.msg40962#msg40962 date=1386883558] How about this? http://www.canineuniversity.com/articles/training/train_28.html [/quote] thank you heidrun i will try that tomorrow, we have not done much clicker or free shaping work for a while. that reminds me i could practise his head turning as we have not done any of that for a while
Re: What can we do? We tried doing free shaping with the box tonight but barley was having none of it, he sniffed it a couple of times then walked off. He would not even eat his dinner, even with rice in it, i ended mixing a can of butchers wet food with it all so that he would eat it. Puzzle on the other hand was great, as soon as she knew that interaction with the box meant a click, she was off, throwing everything at the box, feet, nose, teeth. we even transfered this onto a marker, she started by picking it up but by the end we had got it down to only paws on the marker got a click, we will try this again tomorrow as we had so much fun doing it tonight
