Uh Oh, and other thinking games...

I work with each dog individually every day- sometimes a few times through out the day- depending on my schedule. We work on little things- heeling, fetching, sit/down/stand, targeting, go outs...all sorts of little things done in the comfort of my living room! It is quite amazing the amount of work you can do in a small space!

I am working hard with Vito to build a fetch. We have clickered a go up to it, put it in my mouth, and carry it.....but the carry it part is very brief. I have, however, been very good about making sure I catch it when he drops it....He still will take off with the toy if I am not fast enough- we are working on fixing this using two toys- and trading. Bring me one, and I will throw the other one. He is good for about 4 reps.

Boone is on his way to becoming a tugging maniac. I was told that he liked to tug but had yet to see it. I tried my fur tug, the fleece tug, and the ball tug- with no result at all. But lately- he has been tugging anything- his leash, my clothes (I know, very, very bad) and his most favorite fur tug...He gets SO excited about it. I am also teaching him how to be wrong and not melt- the excitement over the toy is so great that I have started using my "Uh Oh" non-reward marker. He is handling it very well!!! I start by revving him up pretty good- sits/downs/stands/touch etc.....always giving him the tug as a reward...and then I ask him to do something a little harder or out of normal order. When he makes an error I say "Uh Oh" and withhold the toy. The first time he gave up and walked away...the second time I stayed in the "ready to work" position and kept my body posture excited- he tried again and we had a mini party! I was so happy for him...this is really difficult for him so we do it every day now (in the morning) and I have started to sometime use food as well- his breakfast is very highly motivating and I have found he works great for it! I will continue to build value in the "try again" attitude and see where it gets me.

I think I gave up too soon on Kate in this aspect- she is a dog that HATES to be wrong, and instead of teaching her how to try again I just made sure she didn't know she was wrong- what I ended up teaching her was that when things get difficult stop trying. I basically taught her to shut down. I see this now of course when she is almost 10 years old and retired....

Wicca and I work on stay- every day. I really want a CDX this summer- and unless I train she isn't going to get it. Right? Right. So every morning she gets put in a stay in the laundry room while I get their breakfast ready. Every night she gets put in a stay at the top of the stairs while I play with the other dogs. I have stopped relying on her great "boundary" stays (she will get up on a chair and not get off ever if I tell her, or if she is on the step she won't break a stay) Sarah helped remind me that she isn't going to get better if I don't train it....Funny how that works?! We are also working on Go Outs...which Wicca finds highly amusing...She will now run and smush her nose into the stick, turn and down.....she is supposed to sit...not sure when the down happened but now we have to go back a few steps to fix this....

Sam gets to do a fun shaping exercise every morning. I used to do sit/down/stand speed games but on bad days he can't do that very well anymore. So- I pick on object and we will spend about 5 minutes doing some pure shaping things...He really enjoys it and all that thinking tires him out!!!