Dog Tricks Academy Lounge - Blogs http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/ Dog Tricks discussions and training community. Free dog tricks en Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:11:06 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/images/styles/orangeblue/misc/rss.jpg Dog Tricks Academy Lounge - Blogs http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/ I need help with my shiba!!!! http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/foxy_roxy/491-i-need-help-my-shiba.html Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:08:29 GMT :dogtongue:Hi i have a shiba named roxy. she is 3 months old and very timid, i also have a toy poodle and a bichon who play with ehr but she will not... :dogtongue:Hi i have a shiba named roxy. she is 3 months old and very timid, i also have a toy poodle and a bichon who play with ehr but she will not com eup to me. I have tryed laying on the ground, treats, toys even mc donalds french frys for goodness sake, i just cant seam to get her atention. She will hide behind the couch and not come out till i leave the room. then everything seams to be ok with her. dose anyone know what i can do to make her like me? ]]> foxy_roxy http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/foxy_roxy/491-i-need-help-my-shiba.html Afraid of People http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/shih_tzu/490-afraid-people.html Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:39:43 GMT Um... I need help because Glitter, my dog loves people but when they're too much she gets nervous and I have no idea what to do. Other dogs don't seem afraid even when there's a lot of excitement in their surroundings so I want her to be like those other dogs so we will both be able to relax. Thanks! :yes: ;) ]]> shih_tzu http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/shih_tzu/490-afraid-people.html How do I find the trick dog challenges? http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/jazmataz/489-how-do-i-find-trick-dog-challenges.html Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:59:41 GMT I'm just learning how to do this! :) Can someone tell me how to find what challenges are being offered each month? ]]> jazmataz http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/jazmataz/489-how-do-i-find-trick-dog-challenges.html Our First HTM/ Freestyle Show!!! http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/flydogz/488-our-first-htm-freestyle-show.html Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:52:35 GMT Last Saturday was our first HTM/Freestyle show and I was sooo nervous!! Especially when Lottie had never performed the routine properly all the way... Last Saturday was our first HTM/Freestyle show and I was sooo nervous!! Especially when Lottie had never performed the routine properly all the way through!!! On Thursday she wouldn't do any of the transition moves, but did the main moves. On Friday, she did the opposite!!!!! I could see her at the show just sitting in the middle of the ring looking at me saying "Do what??? I don't know how to give paw!!!!!!"

I'd put Loki in too for some obscure reason, and he was worse than Lottie and wouldn't do anything!!!! It was not going to be a pretty sight!!!!!!!

We got to the show and I walked the dogs. Then I helped set up as it was my club organising the event. I watched some of the first class then went to warm Lottie up ready for her class.

In the ring we went, put the props out and got in place for the start....... The music began and............................................... .................................
................................... she gave me her paws when asked!!!! She then did her pose and circles..... She did the whole routine perfectly!!!!!!!! I was over the moon!!! :msnhugegrin::msneek:

Loki was next and as soon as he went into the ring, he suddenly switched to work mode!!!!! The routine ran out before the music so we ended up making it up as we went along!!!!

I was sooooooooo proud of my dogs, they pulled all the stops out and worked their little hearts out for me!!!!!! First or last, I couldnt have asked for more!!!

They called the winners out in reverse order and we hadn't been called, so we hadn't got a place, no way coould we have won................................. But we had!!!!!! We'd come first, Lottie and I:msnparty::dogbiggrin::msnohyes:. I couldn't believe it!!!!

Then the results for Loki's class. Well, yoiu could have knocked me down with a feather when we were called out winners of that class too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I still can't believe it now and keep going to look at our ribbons - just to make sure I'm not dreaming!!!!!

Somebody pinch me please!!!!! :dogsmile: ]]> flydogz http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/flydogz/488-our-first-htm-freestyle-show.html Discriminating Cues - part 4 http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/fickla/486-discriminating-cues-part-4.html Sun, 24 Jan 2010 01:05:54 GMT I recently had a project (part 1, 2, 3) where I was working on both dogs' ability to touch a target with their nose or paw on verbal cue only. As I updated last week both Lance and Vito have a 100% rate (on most days) with the target now and I am pretty much bored with it except for some occasional transfer of their cues to different objects. Well for Christmas I ordered myself some old back issues of Clean Run Magazine and picked a few in the Linda Mecklenburg's series on her handling system (which is still way over my head but I'm getting there!). How excited was I when I just finished the November 2008 issue and found an article dealing on this very topic of discrimination learning! Pamela Reid neatly summarizes several studies dealing with discrimination tasks and I found several great ideas that I wish I knew a couple weeks ago during my project. Here is a further summary of the summary:

1. Errorless learning is the way to go, especially if you are teaching your dog to only ever choose one response. So if you only want your dog to retrieve a bottle of dr. pepper and never the can of coke you would first start out with making the bottle a very exciting object and then slowly add in the boring can to your training. You could even start out with the can being super tiny while the bottle is slathered with peanut butter, but the goal is to have the dog's choice be so easy to start with that he never even thinks about there being a second option. In a discrimination study with pigeons trial and error learning produced 2000+ mistakes and errorless learning produced about 25 mistakes in shorter learning time.

This point didn't really seem to apply to my experiment since I want the dogs to have multiple ways of interacting with the target. But it is a good point to keep in mind when teaching other behaviors, perhaps like teaching scent articles?!

2. If the dog eventually has to choose between multiple behaviors it is best to alternate the two behaviors in each session. A study looked at 3 options of teaching a discrimination task 1)training one behavior to proficiency and then start to train the other 2)train one behavior per session but alternate behaviors each day 3)alternate the two behaviors each session. While all options worked, #3 worked faster since switching between cues forced the animal to pay attention to the differences.

To recap what I did was first teach the nosing of target, then taught pawing the target, then spent a session where I did both behaviors but not mixed yet, and then finally started asking for them randomly in each session. The article didn't really go in depth into the options so I'm not sure if the options imply that the dog already knows the basic behavior. I am sure the dog would have to know how to retrieve before discriminating between names of objects to retrieve. But I am not sure if teaching a dog how to paw an object and then teaching him how to nose an object would be what they are describing in their first choice of the 3 options. So I may have done a combination of option 1 and 3 or could have just done 3.

3. Make the discrimination easier first. Animals can learn both an easy discrimination task AND the hard one faster then animals who just were taught the hard one. Make sure though that when making the task easier that the animal still has to pay attention to the actual relevant feature and isn't focusing on something different instead. For example, if the dog was supposed to discriminate between two shapes make sure that he can't also do the task by instead focusing on color, texture, size, etc.

I feel like this is the most relevant when you are teaching the dog to always pick one object in a discrimination task. However this may also have been what Arwen was getting at when she suggested that I teach pawing to one target (like a post it note) and nosing to another target. Then when putting the behaviors together in one session, start with the respective targets at a distance and gradually move them closer until they overlap.

4. Make each choice have it's own reward! Nosing the object might get cheese and pawing it might get a piece of hot dog. This actually had a huge effect on learning since when the dog hears "whack it" he now thinks of hot dog and that makes it easier for him to choose.

Now this point is what I really needed to do! I can't quite grasp HOW it makes it easier for the dog but I'm guessing it has something to do with classical conditioning!

5. Give the dog time to think about his mistake. In the can vs bottle discrimination example you could remove the correct choice of "bottle" if the dog chose the can instead. This allows the dog to see what choice didn't earn him a reward.

Since my project involved multiple behaviors with only one object this point isn't quite as helpful as if I had multiple objects and one behavior. However I did get much better results when I put the target behind my back after each attempt instead of allowing the dog to correct themself/guess the other behavior right away. I felt that the consequence of having to wait also made it more important that the dog get it right on the first try.

Anyways, I learned a lot from this short article and really wished I had it when I first started out teaching the nose vs paw task to my dogs. ]]> fickla http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/fickla/486-discriminating-cues-part-4.html Buy Dedicated Servers http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/dedicatedserver/485-buy-dedicated-servers.html Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:30:01 GMT buy dedicated servers* for your mission critical sites...]]> Buying a buy dedicated servers for your mission critical sites is not easy. Choose from thebest servers and get great deals, coupons and discounts with dedicated promotions. Gothrough detailed server specifications and wide range of configuration options to selectfrom before you manage or colocate. ]]> dedicatedserver http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/dedicatedserver/485-buy-dedicated-servers.html Friday Training http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/flydogz/484-friday-training.html Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:31:04 GMT Friday nights is our other HTM/Freestyle class. Both dogs go to this class. Lottie has been going since last May, Loki had his induction lesson,... Friday nights is our other HTM/Freestyle class.

Both dogs go to this class. Lottie has been going since last May, Loki had his induction lesson, then injured himself, so this was his first time back, with a new lot of dogs. Next week he starts the course properly.

Lottie was strill OTT, though not quite so bad as Thursday night!! We had to demonstrate our routine for the new people - surprisingly we both remembered it!!!!!

We did a lot of brain work - getting the dogs back into learning mode!

I have until 6th Feb to expand the routine to proper competition length and teach Lottie any tricks she doesn't know!!!!!

It will be fun if nothing else!!!!!

Time to burn the music to CD and test it to see if it'll play!!!!! ]]> flydogz http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/flydogz/484-friday-training.html Updates http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/flydogz/483-updates.html Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:20:51 GMT First Loki. He had lots of fun - there were only two dogs in the class!! Loki wanted to play with the male GSD, but the floor was very slippery... First Loki.

He had lots of fun - there were only two dogs in the class!!

Loki wanted to play with the male GSD, but the floor was very slippery and I didn't want him injuring himself again!!!

His concentration was brilliant, much better than I was expecting, although the accuracy was off, due to the slippery floor. He tried his best which was all I wanted.

We did have a little confusion :dogblink: with the sit in front of the recall!!!!! I got some really nice " left paw, right paw, two paw" work. Not really what I wanted!!! Have to work on that one!


LOTTIE.

Tonight was our first night back at HTM class for a month and Lottie was her usual OTT self!

We reminded her how to "go round" objects away from me (or to be more precise - the food!!) which is now coming along nicely. We also worked on getting her to hold her "touch" on a target stick, which she is beginning to get the hang of.

The new trick we started learning was "cha cha" where the dog stands behind with its paws on the handlers waist! Now, there's no way Lottie can manage that, but hopefully it will look like she is pushing me from behind!!!!

This class on a Thursday night is brilliant because I get to choose what we learn, so if I need somthing specific for our routine, I can work on that.

Tomorrow night is our other HTM class. This is more structured and good in a different way. This will also be Loki's first class. I am really looking forward to it!!!

I now have to figure out what to make a sturdy but light and small sheep pen out of!!!! ]]> flydogz http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/flydogz/483-updates.html One step forward two steps back http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/ryleighgirl/482-one-step-forward-two-steps-back.html Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:48:03 GMT Ryleigh's playing biting came back awhile ago, but as far as I can tell it is on it's way out for good now. We had to increase walks to an hour instead of half an hour along with all the training and playing we do. We still get mouthed but now as soon as she starts we can tell her to get her toy and she listens. I also had to look at it a little differently. Instead of thinking of it as pushy aggressive play that needs to be stopped, I now think of it as she likes to play rough and I can use it to my advantage. Once I started thinking like that, it was a lot easier to teach her she can rough house as long as there is a toy in her mouth. Instead of trying to stop her favorite way of playing. Now if I turn my back to her when she is biting she remembers "oh yeah I need a toy!" There is still a ways to go, but there is actually progress now. Plus now I can use it as a super reward :dogbiggrin:. So thats my step forward...

We usually go for walks on my street and there aren't that many people or cars. Cars she is very reactive towards and wants to chase them really badly. I have a plan to help fix that now that I have a harness for her and I can control her better. She usually gets alert around strangers (like she wants to play) and we are working on it. But she never let out more than one bark, then we walk past them and she was fine. Yesterday we went to a paved trail that we haven't been to in a while. There were way more people there than I thought there would be since it was cold. So we started our walk and she barked and lunged at every person that walked by. I had no idea what had gotten into her. Then later we went to the vet and she was fine, rolling on her back for belly rubs, and giving kisses to everyone. Then today we had class and were doing socializing, and the person stomped towards her and she growled. Then we were leaving and she started barking and cowering at this couple that had just put their coats on. Then it clicked that she is terrified of strangers in bulky coats. I have never seen her that afraid of anything before. I'm not sure how to help her with this because it is only with strangers. Her reaction is so extreme with strangers that I'm not sure I will be able to find someone willing to help... She has also been very jumpy at any little noise, and hates when I'm not in the same room as her. She is nine months, is she going through some kind of stage? Any ideas to help with the strangers in coats are greatly appreciated. I am trying very hard to teach her manners, but I feel like I keep making things worse :dogsad:. ]]> ryleighgirl http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/ryleighgirl/482-one-step-forward-two-steps-back.html Mid January Training Plans http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/fickla/481-mid-january-training-plans.html Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:52:43 GMT It's been almost 2 weeks since I posted on my current training plans for working with the dogs at home. So here's the update.
1. Touch vs Whack- I updated earlier that Lance was the first to reach 100% in a training session! Vito followed closely behind. I've done a tiny bit of generalizing with Lance on a new object (round container of nuts on its side) and percentage went waayy down. Lance thought the goal was the kick the container so it rolled along the floor. I have not tried it yet with Vito.

2. Fronts and Finishes- Wow, it's amazing how quickly Lance is getting the correct concept of heel position on a finish. His left finish is accurate 4 out of 5 times and I am making sure to reward him in the correct spot so he even scootches his butt back a bit if he's off. His right finish is a bit slower to come around so I'm still rewarding less then accurate tries and using the placement of the treat after I click to get him to scootch back.

Vito isn't that much improved since the last update. He still steps on my foot somewhere between 1-2 out of every 5 left finishes. Vito is being very cautious now and his finish is much slower. I am hoping that the speed and snazziness of it will return as he understand exactly what we're doing. Vito's fronts are much improved as he rarely steps on my foot anymore.

3. Praying- I really haven't done a lot of this trick recently. When I have Lance is getting good at understanding that I want his butt to the floor. Vito no longer needs me standing behind him to prevent him from standing but we are still working on the duration he will hold his head down between his paws. Of course in Vito's style the trick is morphing into a trick in flexability as he likes to start it the farthest away from the couch he can be and still get his paws on it!

4. Various Tricks- Ok, not so much. The only work I did was to get Lance understanding the foot signal for "cross" and he's doing a pretty good job of it. Lance still defaults to his "pose" trick though if I don't act fast enough. I didn't do much of this with Vito but did discover he can think more if I hold one hand lightly under his collar so he is less likey to shift his other paw when the first paw goes on top. He's an odd cookie.

5. Random Stays- Lance is still stressed but not nearly as much. He also has only broken 1 stay in the very beginning of this experiment. The good treats are still coming quite frequently. Vito LOVES this game and always stays even when I only tell Lance to do so in hopes of getting some good stuff as well.

The new biweekly plans!:

1. Finishes- Continuing accuracy for Lance and not stepping on my feet for Vito.

2. Random Stays- try to do one out of context stay each day.

3. Go Outs- I think I'm going to change Lance's go out for obedience into a paw touch on the wall. I have previously done a little with sending him to a target but after doing a ton of reading on the Ring Tested group list, the paw touch seems like the better choice. I have already experimented with teaching Lance the "spread em" trick and have taught Lance to run to a wall, put both front feet on it, and stay while I pat him down. But I stopped it when my instructor said it might be bad for Lance's corgi shoulders to slam into a wall. So now my challenge will be to get Lance to calmly put one paw on the wall (a "whack it!") oh and do everything else associated with a proper go out :)

Vito will now be participating in this training too!
4. Tricks- When I have time the trick list will include touch vs whack, praying, limping, hugging a toy, and retrieving a hot dog.

Best friends!
]]> fickla http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/fickla/481-mid-january-training-plans.html <![CDATA[Rally at Land O' Lakes Dog Show!]]> http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/fickla/480-rally-land-o-lakes-dog-show.html Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:41:50 GMT Lance entered Rally Excellent today at the big dog show. I have stopped by the show in the past to see all the conformation dogs and great vendors,... Lance entered Rally Excellent today at the big dog show. I have stopped by the show in the past to see all the conformation dogs and great vendors, but have not competed there. I decided that this would not be a good show to do actual obedience in, way too many distractions for little Lance, but rally might be ok.

YouTube - Lance the Corgi Gets His Rally Excellent Title!
[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I86lcXK_xQM[/MEDIA]


Well his score was good, a 99, but this was not Lance's best performance. Lance was just charging to go and really did not want to heel. He wasn't sniffy and didn't seem distracted by the crowd or anything, but Lance was really wanting to move fast and did not appreciate being reigned in! Right off the bat Lance sprinted off the line when I took my first step (actually video evidence shows that he left on the what I think was my mouth just starting to open!) and since the moving stand exercise was 3 steps from the start that put us in trouble. I immediately took a step back and got Lance into position before going forward to the sign and having him hold his stand. I think the judge could have technically taken 3pts off for this first exercise since I kind've redid it, but she only took 1pt off. I asked her about it after the awards and she said that I did it so fast and it was before I started the moving stand exercise that she felt it was more an out of position then a redo. Nice judge :)

On both jumps and after the fast time he needed a stern "Lance!" to reel him back in. He was just nuts and was totally forging the entire time. I don't know what got into the little corgi but I'm thinking I need to change my warmup for him. I'm still used to the Lance lagging when he gets distracted so I tend to focus on more active exercises and getting his body moving when maybe Lance now needs some calming focus exercises.

Well this was our third leg so now Lance has his Rally Excellent title! I'm still not sure if I will go for his RAE but I am now offically registered for APDT Rallly and will enter the trial in February if I'm not working.

Oh, and I also got to see Vito's litter mate at the trial! We ended up crating right next to Henry who had his debut in Rally Novice today! Henry did very well too! I was sad to see how small Vito was next to Henry. Vito clocks in at a petite 29.5lbs with no meat on him at all and Henry is 45lbs looking like a proper toller. It was cute to see how much their faces look alike though! ]]> fickla http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/fickla/480-rally-land-o-lakes-dog-show.html Obedience class tonight!!! :-) http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/flydogz/479-obedience-class-tonight.html Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:52:47 GMT Tonight will be Loki's first class since June!

Although he's done little bits of attention work, this will be his first class in a long time! I am expecting to only do a minute or two here and there as I think his attention span will be non existant at the moment.

I also think his accuracy will be poor, but he has had hind leg injuries, so I don't expect neat turns for a while yet as he has to build strength up first.

What I am aiming for tonight:
1) he enjoys class
2) he tries
3) he has fun!!!!

If I get that, I will be very happy. ]]> flydogz http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/flydogz/479-obedience-class-tonight.html And the winner is...Nose vs Paw Touches, part 3 http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/fickla/478-winner-nose-vs-paw-touches-part-3.html Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:36:34 GMT Lance wins! Today marked the first day that Lance got 100% on his paw vs nose target discrimination. (Part 1, Part 2) Previously both dogs had been hovering close to the 100% mark but always managed to screw up once or twice. Today's test involved random switches between the two behaviors and at one point I tried to trick both dogs by doing 3 "touches" in a row and then asking for "whack it." Both dogs passed the trick, but Vito failed another switch a couple trials later. So Lance is the winner :)

I am still not willing to bet with real money that either Lance or Vito could get it right the first try, but I think that's true about most tricks that I train. Overall I am confident that both dogs have a really good understanding of the verbal discriminations.

Step 4 (5?6?10?) in this project will be trying their new cues out on brand new objects. What good is their behaviors if they can only do it on a target?! My goal is to go into Hearing and Service Dogs of MN and have them test their behaviors on an actual handicapped push plate. Well at least with Vito, Lance might need a stool :)


Here's the sore loser.



I don't think he has any idea of what he's doing.

]]> fickla http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/fickla/478-winner-nose-vs-paw-touches-part-3.html <![CDATA[Lance's 1st NADAC Trial!]]> http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/fickla/477-lances-1st-nadac-trial.html Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:35:33 GMT We start off the new year with a bang! Lance attended his first NADAC trial, 3rd day of agility overall, on Sunday. I only entered him in novice...
We start off the new year with a bang! Lance attended his first NADAC trial, 3rd day of agility overall, on Sunday. I only entered him in novice jumpers and tunnelers to avoid any contacts or weaving until I'm satisfied with his contact performance. We waited all day but had a blast
YouTube - Lance the Corgi's 1st NADAC Agility trial- Jumpers and Tunnelers
[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSVd0zA7QR8[/MEDIA]


I am so pleased with how we did! Both courses had multiple crosses which Lance read nicely and he ran fast too! We made 4.9yps in jumpers and 5.5 in tunnelers :) I was especially pleased on the opening of our tunnelers run as Lance sped by me and kept going without any looking back or hesitation! We are getting some really nice obstacle focus on the corgi.
]]> fickla http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/fickla/477-lances-1st-nadac-trial.html Veterinary Disgrace http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/k_oller/476-veterinary-disgrace.html Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:41:20 GMT I am so unbelievably angry. I am visiting my family in Pennsylvania and Dakota needed her nails clipped very badly. She is um....shall we say,... I am so unbelievably angry. I am visiting my family in Pennsylvania and Dakota needed her nails clipped very badly. She is um....shall we say, obstinate when I try to do it so I scheduled her an appointment with a local vet. I decided to go to the vet as opposed to petsmart because he is a family friend and I trust him. The day of the appointment rolled around (yesterday) and I took her in. He did an exam on her (which I didn't ask for) and without my permission or knowledge he gave her a vaccine I was not aware she needed. He charged me 50 dollars to look in her ears and cut her nails, then charged me 40 for the vaccine. I didn't say anything at the time because as I said he is a family friend, but as time went on I decided I was really upset. When I called back the secretary told me that she needed the shot and I said that it was besides the point because they never asked my permission. They agreed to give me a credit but I was still not satisfied. Especially because dakota has been acting funny and throwing up. I called my vet in Colorado and they said that the records they sent to my new vet clearly said she did not need the shot they gave her until 11/21/2010!!!!!!! I called back and they continued to be defensive refusing to acknowledge that they had done anything wrong. Now I have to make the poor dog skip two meals at the recommendation of my vet. I don't know what to do. I am really aggravated :msnmad:. ]]> k_oller http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/blogs/k_oller/476-veterinary-disgrace.html