More Progress from Zekers!!!

[tx_cowgirl]

Well as many of you may know, Zeke and I have finally clicked(no pun intended) with his training. As a puppy, he learned the basics--sit, down, stay, come, shake. Now, I am so PROUD to annouce that his trick list is rapidly lengthening. And all with NOTHING but a TENNIS BALL. YAY! SO...

He now knows:

-Sit
-Down
-An Advanced Stay(dogs milling about, me milling about, tennis balls thrown...SOOO hard for him) :dogtongue2:
-Shake(The Zekers version...he doesn't just place his paw in your hand...kind of "holds" your hand, and if you let go before he's ready he kind of almost waves at you because he wants you to hold it. My little lover boy.)
-Come(pretty rusty, because once he loses focus--which typically takes something UNBELIEVABLY interesting--he's very hard to get tuned back in.)
-Directed jumping
-Spin(just one way for now, but we'll be working on the other way soon)
-Jump my leg(both ways)
-Back up
-Scoot(moonwalk...down position and scoot backwards)
-Watch(with moderate distractions)
And now...
BOW. Yippee. For now no verbal command, just bow when I do. As a pup I tried to teach it to him but he just wasn't catching on--this was before the tennis balls became interesting and he would work for NOTHING but praise and lovin'. But now, he's GOT IT! It's very cute. I'm thinking 'Ta-da!' because he can't seem to differentiate bow/down, but I might just not use a verbal cue.

We're now working on "on my left," which the classroom calls 'get in.' Kind of having to experiment with this one, but we'll see how it goes. I'm really excited with his progress. His training class got postponed a bit, but it will be starting May 5th. Yippee. If we could get far enough, I think he'd be tons of fun for freestyle. Really Zeke is just incredibly versatile...he would be fantastic at agility...flyball...freestyle provided we got that far...obedience--enthusiastic even though he wouldn't be as happy with it...
I just had to post his progress; I'm thrilled. ^^

 

[tx_cowgirl]

And a question:

I typically teach up to 3-4 tricks at a time with Mud, and she handles it quite well. With Z I've been sticking to 1-2 max really for my sake because I'm still figuring out how to work with him. Since he's not used to training on a regular basis, should I stick to this, or can I push him and myself and work on more? A few of his newer tricks are just that--still very new to him, and I don't want to overload him with more new tricks when the others aren't set in stone yet. Opinions??

 

[fickla]

I personally don't think it matters. Even the first week I had Vito I was already introducing him to at least 10 different tricks. I just don't expect my dogs to actually get it for quite awhile. But, I do only work a maximum of 2 minutes on each trick (or at least try to stop myself!). So now I have Vito earning his lunch and can work though the entire lunch (10-15mn), but I switch activities multiple times. With Zeke though you might only want to work for 1-5 minutes and do only 1 or 2 tricks in each session until he can be fully engaged with you for longer and not get stressed. Or just play a ton in between tricks to give him a mental break that way. I just don't think it matters how many tricks a dog is working on at a time, although he may try offering you different tricks when you want to work on something else!

 

[tx_cowgirl]

Well simply for MY sake I try to work on no more than 4 tricks at a time simply because I'd probably forget if I worked on more. xD Lol.

He can handle 10 minutes fairly easily, and would do longer but really just because he's so obsessed with the tennis ball. So far it's going great and he's doing very well. I'm trying not to push too hard but still challenge him.

 

[CollieMan]

I hope we're going to get to see them soon! I feel like the child who has been told there is gold behind the curtain but I'm not allowed to peer through it.

I don't think the number of tricks at a time really matters. Somtimes I teach one at a time, sometimes it can be five or six at a time. The only thing I make sure of is that they are each different enough from one another so as not to cause confusion.

I think Ellie would be perfectly happy to learn new things all day long. It's me who conks out!

P.S. There isn't gold behind the curtain is there?

 

[fickla]

I know! I really want to see some video! It's just great that you finally have something that really motivates him

 

[tx_cowgirl]

LOL....well of course there's gold behind the curtain. :dogwink:

Well I did find a loaner complete with cameraman(the owner, lol) and I think we'll going to film tonight. Gotta get the challenge vid done and then I'm going to try to compile a tricks vid. We'll see...if not I'm sure he'll let me use it again. Cameraman is also going to help me with editing and stuff. Maybe it's silly but I'm excited. ^^ Wonder if Zekers will get stage fright...he's always had an issue with pictures and the like, lol!! Camera shy. Mudflap on the other hand loves being the center of attention so I'm sure she'll be pleased. If I don't get the tricks video done today then I'll try to get to it sometime this week.