Sooo as some of you may know, my furry family has grown since getting married. 
I've been working with everybody and they've all made some great progress! I had to share with people that would understand!
Daisy, our Mini Schnauzer, has FINALLY gotten "Sit" down. It took fooorreeevvver but she finally has it!! Lol everything finally clicked today. The problem has been that she will be doing well by the end of a session, and the next day is a whole new day and her slate has been wiped clean. She, so far, has been a very slow learner and (with sit and shaping) she just doesn't retain anything. Today we finally had a breakthrough and you could tell she finally understands sit, and we worked on eye contact, shaping, and finish. It was like everything came together today and she understood how everything works. Lol. I didn't start shaping until just yesterday and I think it really helped her. She gets super excited over food and shaping helped her think instead of just focusing on the treats. I was worried that shaping would be hard for her, and in a way it sort of is, but it's definitely helped her I think.
With Gypsy I've been doing a lot of shaping, and we are having some trouble. She does not want to use her paws at all. I first rewarded for looking at the target, then sniffing the target, and now we've gotten to pushing the target with her nose and we've hit a roadblock. She offers no other interaction with the target. She sits, then lays down, then sits again, then lays down, then pushes the target with her nose... I've rewarded her for accidentally touching the target with her paw multiple times, and even tried encouraging her to touch it by shifting my body weight to "push" her towards it and even luring her towards it. But she just isn't getting the idea. I tried putting treats under the target so that maybe she would paw at it, but that didn't work either. So shaping is going to take a bit of work with Miss Gypsy.
On the plus side, her stay is becoming more advanced and we are really just doing a lot of work advancing/perfecting her other behaviors. She's doing well with all that.
Shaping is going a bit slow with Zekers too, but he is getting the idea. We are also working on advancing his behaviors and he too is doing well.
I've been doing a lot of shaping with Mudflap too because I'm running out of ideas for tricks for her. Her hips are getting bad, and a lot of her old tricks are now modified or avoided so she is comfortable. I need to decide who to have her do double-dog leg weaves with. So that's on the to-do list.
Harley is doing awesome. Watching her figure things out is like watching Mudflap figure things out. They are sooo much alike. Her personality is like a combination of Z and Mud with a lot of her own flare thrown in. She is way too smart for her own good.
She is working on leg weaves and shaping mostly, as well as waving and jumping into my arms. She has perfected her high fives, she speaks, nose targets and paw targets, and jumps my leg. We are always advancing her recall and stay. I am really excited to watch her continue to learn.
All in all everyone is doing good and I'm having fun. I start working with a new student next week, a sweet 6 year old Golden who will be with us for two weeks to perfect his obedience in distracting environments and work on some dominance issues. Life is good!
I've been working with everybody and they've all made some great progress! I had to share with people that would understand!Daisy, our Mini Schnauzer, has FINALLY gotten "Sit" down. It took fooorreeevvver but she finally has it!! Lol everything finally clicked today. The problem has been that she will be doing well by the end of a session, and the next day is a whole new day and her slate has been wiped clean. She, so far, has been a very slow learner and (with sit and shaping) she just doesn't retain anything. Today we finally had a breakthrough and you could tell she finally understands sit, and we worked on eye contact, shaping, and finish. It was like everything came together today and she understood how everything works. Lol. I didn't start shaping until just yesterday and I think it really helped her. She gets super excited over food and shaping helped her think instead of just focusing on the treats. I was worried that shaping would be hard for her, and in a way it sort of is, but it's definitely helped her I think.
With Gypsy I've been doing a lot of shaping, and we are having some trouble. She does not want to use her paws at all. I first rewarded for looking at the target, then sniffing the target, and now we've gotten to pushing the target with her nose and we've hit a roadblock. She offers no other interaction with the target. She sits, then lays down, then sits again, then lays down, then pushes the target with her nose... I've rewarded her for accidentally touching the target with her paw multiple times, and even tried encouraging her to touch it by shifting my body weight to "push" her towards it and even luring her towards it. But she just isn't getting the idea. I tried putting treats under the target so that maybe she would paw at it, but that didn't work either. So shaping is going to take a bit of work with Miss Gypsy.
On the plus side, her stay is becoming more advanced and we are really just doing a lot of work advancing/perfecting her other behaviors. She's doing well with all that.
Shaping is going a bit slow with Zekers too, but he is getting the idea. We are also working on advancing his behaviors and he too is doing well.
I've been doing a lot of shaping with Mudflap too because I'm running out of ideas for tricks for her. Her hips are getting bad, and a lot of her old tricks are now modified or avoided so she is comfortable. I need to decide who to have her do double-dog leg weaves with.
So that's on the to-do list.Harley is doing awesome. Watching her figure things out is like watching Mudflap figure things out. They are sooo much alike. Her personality is like a combination of Z and Mud with a lot of her own flare thrown in. She is way too smart for her own good.
She is working on leg weaves and shaping mostly, as well as waving and jumping into my arms. She has perfected her high fives, she speaks, nose targets and paw targets, and jumps my leg. We are always advancing her recall and stay. I am really excited to watch her continue to learn.All in all everyone is doing good and I'm having fun.
I start working with a new student next week, a sweet 6 year old Golden who will be with us for two weeks to perfect his obedience in distracting environments and work on some dominance issues. Life is good!
) You work so hard with your guys, good for you!!!! Gypsy kinda sounds like Alf - he doesn't like using his paws (except for digging - that boy can dig like a back hoe!!!
) - I finally just gave up and conceded that he's just the way he is. He will 'shake' with his left paw, but not his right - and that's where it ends. Anything else and he looks at me like I have 3 heads. 
If anyone can get thru to Gypsy, I know it's you!!!!
Right up your alley!! I know you're having a blast with her -- good luck keeping up!!! You're gonna need it!! 
I'm leash training my cat, haha! She's doing pretty well!