Need Training Inspiration?

[CollieMan]

It's just impossible for me to watch this YouTube video and not want to run to the park to do some more training with my dog. If you have sound on your computer, be sure to turn it on as it matches the tricks perfectly. Enjoy...

[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNkaQGCy9d4[/MEDIA]

I've watched almost all of her videos and she is one of, if not the, most natural trainer I think I've ever had the pleasure to watch.

 

[Jean Cote]

Hey CollieMan!

That's an awesome video! I wish my dogs were that agile hehehe!! I especially like the ending, that's my favorite part. Nice music too!!

Thanks for sharing! Seems I got work to do now, lol!

 

[Jean Cote]

Weaving backwards through her legs is pretty impressive too!

 

[CollieMan]

It's the natural flow of it all that really impresses me. But if I had to pick one thing, it would be the jumping at her front. That's really incredible stuff and requires a lot of trust on both parts.

 

[Jean Cote]

You haven't taught your dog to jump in your arms yet? My border collie does it, but my husky is too big.

I'll be happy to add it in the later lessons

 

[CollieMan]

hehe Remember, she's only 19 weeks. She's still too small to jump up at me. Though, what I do at the moment, in readiness, is when we're done training, I say "That'll do", and then allow her to jump up at my legs to play some tugging, or I'll pick her up.

I'd be very interested to see how it's taught though.

 

[Jean Cote]

Actually it's really easy, and the soonest you do it the more confidence your dog will have in you. By the way, this is common sense but you should never drop your dog or throw her out of your arms, as she'll stop trusting you.

Just get on your knees, and lean back. Then use a treat to lure her onto you. Eventually you can put her in a sit&wait and call her from a distance and do the same thing.

I personally stand in a way so that my left leg offers her support to jump on. I'm sure you can see at the end of some videos. (Although there was no room in those shots)

It's a shaky description, but It's better than nothing until I write & record it

 

[CollieMan]

Another video worth watching is

[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppkQayyP9Ys[/MEDIA] Keep in mind, the dog in question is only 10.5 weeks of age. But even better, I thought, was that the author of the video was so helpful when I e-mailed her asking questions. It's people like her who make dog training such an absolute pleasure.

 

[Jean Cote]

Thank CollieMan for the video!

It’s a good video… But I find that she gives mixed messages to her dog.

It’s amazing to see a 10.5 week old puppy do this so young – but she has to repeat 2 – 3 times the command, and often the dog relies on her body language. And sometimes the dog does what she asks but is not reinforced.

Maybe it’s just me – I like to train my dogs differently.

 

[CollieMan]

I think, in this particular case, the important thing is the early interaction with the puppy, which will help build up its focus. In fact, this can be seen as you watch videos of the same dog at about six months of age. It's become a well-focused dog that seems to relish training.

I agree however, that repeating commands can be a long road to failure that can result in a dog that waits to hear the command two or three times before following the instruction. But at that young age, I think you can get away with it - a little. The keeping it fun, light-hearted, interesting, and informal is far more important at the point, I believe.

In one way, I wish I'd got Ellie a little earlier. We got her at just over 12 weeks of age. We missed about four weeks of really good interaction time, when the puppy would have been so responsive. On the plus side however, her foster-carer had other dogs, and so Ellie got plenty of early dog-interaction.

 

[Jean Cote]

I'll be honest with you CollieMan ... you didn't miss any training time. It's true that you can start early on and that girl was probably training it since it was born.

... But what's the rush? Young puppies sleep so much and have such little attention span that I never taught mine anything beside playing with them. Most people struggle to get their dog housetrained for like the first 3 months.

I agree with you - The most important thing to do when they are young is interacting with them and building a relationship.

 

[l_l_a]

great videos, thanks for posting them!!


About the first one (the canine freestyle video): how do the dogs work for such a long continuous stretch and maintain enthusiasm without reinforcement until the very end? Is it done by variable schedules of reinforcement only, so the dog is always hopeful? Or backchaining? Or do the dogs find the activity itself inherently reinforcing?

I loved the music too!

 

[Jean Cote]

great videos, thanks for posting them!!


About the first one (the canine freestyle video): how do the dogs work for such a long continuous stretch and maintain enthusiasm without reinforcement until the very end? Is it done by variable schedules of reinforcement only, so the dog is always hopeful? Or backchaining? Or do the dogs find the activity itself inherently reinforcing?

I loved the music too!

I'd say all of the above! Those two girls obviously trained their dogs a lot, so once your dogs know all the individual tricks, you can build "series" of tricks to get a treat, and eventually a whole show like they've done.

Besides those dogs love doing it! You can see the same thing happenning in agility courses, you aren't allowed any treats in agility courses, yet dogs go fast as hell because they've been conditioned that each obstacle is the best thing in the world! :msngrin:

 

[addictinganimal]

Great videos! Love the music, and the jump-backflip combo was incredible!

 

[l_l_a]

I've been watching more YouTube videos from the trainer in the freestyle video, I simply love all her videos!! (Collie Man thank you so much for posting that first link!) Not only is the training so superb, but the videos are so well put together too. This one almost made me cry! (yeah, I know, I'm a big wimp! I think I need to watch it without the music)
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLYPE2oMaZQ[/media]

 

[szecsuani]

You haven't taught your dog to jump in your arms yet? My border collie does it, but my husky is too big.

I'll be happy to add it in the later lessons

I'm really looking forward to that one!:dogbiggrin:
I really liked this video, I hope that one day Pami and I will be this good to:dogrolleyes:

 

[Jean Cote]

Hehe nice video! That music does add a lot to the feeling of the video!! :dogbiggrin: Thanks for posting it!

 

[dennygirl]

Hey Jean,
i ws jus wandering how you would go about training your dog to do backflips off your front like in the video? Wudnt it be dangerous?
Regards,
Dennygirl

 

[Jean Cote]

Hi Dennygirl,

I hope you realize that it's not me in the video, hehehehe. Well first of all I think her dog is a very small dog so it would be a lot easier for a small dog to learn how to do this, rather than a big dog.

I also think that for a dog to do this, he must be encouraged very early on. I get my border collie to jump in my arms, but I started to encourage her to do this when she was just a puppy.

Yes, training your dog to do a backflip can be dangerous. But if he's been doing it since he was a puppy or a very young age, then it'll be like walking to him.

As for the exact specifications on how to train this, I don't know. I've never trained it myself and I don't see myself training it either.

Sorry I couldn't help you more than this.

 

[tx_cowgirl]

Man I love that first video!!!! I wish had the time to work with my dogs enough to do that. That's awesome. I am definitely inspired. I think Mud's fixing to learn a few new things. ^^