Teach Starting Nose Work Class

We're joining in the Positive Pet Training Blog Hop this month, hosted by Cascadian Nomads,Tenacious Little Terrier and Rubicon Days.  The theme this month is recall, but since I didn't have a post for that I decided to go with what Teach is up to these days.

Last Friday Teach had his first nose work session.  I have been wanting to find something else to do with Teach where I do so much with Tucker.  Teach has made it be known he isn't a fan of formal obedience and where he does love agility his build is going to hinder him the long run for it.  So we'll continue to have fun with that but in the back of my mind I know he won't last forever in it and won't go far.

So that brought me to doing some research on nose work and finding out what it was about.  What I read sounded like a lot of fun.  Lucky for us we have a good friend that competes successfully in it with multiple dogs having upper level titles and even getting invited to the Nationals.  So I reached out to her to see what we needed to get started.  While we were chatting she offered to teach a class to anyone else that was interested.  This brought us to Friday night and our first class.

Teach LOVES it.  He had a lot of fun in class but when we practice here at the house and he sees me getting boxes ready he's ready.  He'll pull you from the porch which I use as the staging area for him so he doesn't see where I put the boxes and then pulls me through the rest of the house trying to find them.  Its great having something else for him to do.

Our group has grown too in just a week.  We've added several more people to our class for tonight.  Unfortunately I can't make class tonight (Tucker has his weekly advanced agility class) but Randy is stepping in to take him.  He has also been working with him and seeing how fun it is.

Now I don't feel as guilty doing so much with Tucker knowing that I've got something else fun to do with Teach.  We'll work towards competing, but that isn't our ultimate goal.  My goal is to have a good time and a truly positive experience. This sport is nothing but praise and reward, just up our ally.

Positive Pet Training: Trainers Confessions

This month we have decided to take part in the Positive Pet Training Blog Hop hosted by several of our favorite blogs.  Go give them a visit if you haven't:  Cascadian Nomads, Rubicon Days, and Tenacious Little Terrier.

Every month they pick a theme to write about or you can write about anything related to positive pet training.  This month as the title says its about Trainers Confessions.

We'd all like to think we are the perfect trainers, but sadly that isn't the case for anyone.  That's completely normal.  There is always something we can be better at or improve upon.

You're probably wondering what my confession is going to be.  And even though I know I'm not perfect its hard to pinpoint just what that is for a blogpost.  I could probably list several.

Teach has several obedience titles but the dog can't walk on a loose leash to save his life!  When we got Teach I thought I was doing good by getting a Flexi and giving him more freedom while roaming around, little did I know that I was only teaching him something that would drive me crazy!

I finally put it together when I realize that my parent's Corgi, Roxy is the same way.  She pulls like a mad woman and its because she's always been walked on a Flexi.  We had no idea.  

I vowed that when we got Tucker he would have a long line for free roaming until he learned his recall but never on a Flexi.  And he walks so much better than the others.  He's like a feather compared to them.  

What am I going to do about this?  Well I guess that's where the second part of my confession comes from.  I'm not going to train something that isn't fun to us.  So I'm not going to do anything for the most part.  When we do on-leash walks I try to work on it with several techniques, like being a tree or turning around and walking the other way.  And it works for a while but then we get tired of just turning around and stopping so I just try to ignore it ... LOL!!  I'm terrible.  Its why we walk where I know my guys can just be free and I don't have to worry about it!  

There you have it ... my confessions.  

Positive Pet Training Blog Hop: 101 Things With a Box

This month for the positive pet training blog hop we were given the task of doing a post about 101 things to do with a box.  

For those that aren't sure about this ... there is lots of examples on YouTube and a Google search.  In short its a shaping exercise where you get behaviors/interactions with a box.  It teaches the dog to think and the human to be patient.

I tried this with both of my guys.  I did go longer than I should have for my videos and in normal training (when I'm not vidoeing) I do try and keep it at 2-5 minutes.

Tucker went first.  And you can tell he hasn't had as much experience with shaping.  I got a lot of staring so in his defense this was kinda unfair to him.  I should have been a better trainer and worked him up to this.  But he seemed to enjoy it anyways.  You can check his video out below.

I didn't get as much interaction as I would have liked.  But I tried to click when he would look at the box or touch it.  I eventually got him dipping his head in it (by cheating with throwing treats in there). 

Next I tried it with Teach.  What a difference!  Teach knew what I wanted.  I loved seeing him work because he was constantly moving his feet trying to figure things out.  Didn't take him long to start dipping his head in.  I wanted any kind of interaction with the box, not just one particular behavior.  Here's his video:

I need to remember this exercise for cold winter nights when they are bouncing off the walls.  After 5 minutes of this they were sleepy!  

Thanks to the hosts of this Blog Hop, Cascadian Nomads, Dachshund Nola, and Tenacious Little Terrier.

Positive Pet Training Blog Hop: Being an Ambassador

I should have started this when I got the email from Cascadian Nomads telling everyone about this month's Positive Pet Training Blog Hop.  But being the procrastinator that I am ... I'm doing it now (Monday morning).

I know I have talked about this in the past (but don't ask which blogs as I'm terrible remembering!).  Taking Teach (and now Tucker too) every where with us is always fun.  It lets people see what good dogs Collies are and also lets people know there is another variety out there (the Smooth).

Of course we gets lots of questions with them ... is he shaved, is he part greyhound, is he part German Shepherd.  And I always think back to this saying from Cafe Press:

I'm going to have to get me one of these shirts!

I always tell people that yes he is a Collie.  He's just like Lassie only no hair.  That seems to make sense to them.  

Another part of why we get attention (besides our looks) is they are very well trained.  (well Tucker is working on it!)  I can put Teach anywhere for a picture and he will stay there for me.  People see that and often compliment us on our abilities.  For the past year I have taken the route of positive pet training and even signed up for several online classes at the Fenzi Dog Sport Academy.  We have learned a lot of valuable information from there and will continue as the +R (positive reinforcement) community grows.

It has paid off for both of my dogs.  Even Tucker is coming along quickly.  

You get farther by being positive than you do being negative!

Most importantly having a well trained dog makes them more enjoyable to be around and have around other people.  Sometimes I do think I have easier than some because by nature the Collie is a smart, gentle breed who wants nothing more than to please its people.  

Thanks to the hosts of this Blog Hop, Cascadian Nomads, Dachshund Nola, and Tenacious Little Terrier.

Positive Pet Training Blog Hop: Favorite Tricks

We're joining in on the the 6th installment of the Positive Pet Training Blog hop, hosted by Dachshund Nola,  Cascadian Nomads and Tenacious Little Terrier. This month's theme is favorite tricks.

I almost didn't join in as I think I've beat a dead horse (or dog in this case...LOL) with always posting about Teach's Bang Trick.  

But I decided that we have more tricks than just the bang trick (just none videoed).  And I would say that, yes, I've talked about that one a lot (it required the most training), but his favorite trick is "shake".  Its almost automatic when anyone goes to get him a treat he puts his paw up.  This trick he learned just weeks after joining our family.  And while I didn't use shaping for it I did use positive training for it.  Where I would grab his paw and say "shake" and then give him a bite of food.  We did this every morning for a week for him to get his breakfast.  And its stuck ever since.

Another form of shake that we do is "pick".  Where I hide my hands behind my back with a treat in one, and then tell him to pick which one.  

Teach giving his paw for a "shake"

Another we use a lot isn't what I would consider a trick, but I guess it could be and that is "over".  Teach loves to jump over things.  I formally taught "over" for Rally, but it has come in handy along the trail for pictures.

Another trick we use is "on".  Again, not sure if you would consider it a trick, but it works for getting some pictures I've wanted.

Even Roxy learned "on" for some pictures

This was the early stages of "on" and where we first started introducing it to him.

And here is a short video of us doing an "up" from a distance.  Its the same as "on" and I think I started with "up" but then switched to "on".  I know, probably something bad to do while training (switching the words) but it still works ... LOL!!  Thankful I have a smart and forgiving animal to work with.

There are a few other tricks that he knows in parts, but not formally finished.  I want to train some more (and finish some we have started), but it has turned into a winter time activity since we're stuck inside more.

Positive Training Blog Hop: Shaping the "Bang Trick"

Its National Train Your Dog Month.  With that there is a new Blog Hop called Positive Pet Training which will occur on the first Monday of every month.  Its being hosted by Cascadian Nomads, Dachshund Nola, and Tenacious Little Terrier.

When I got Teach, almost 3 years ago, I started researching different methods of training.  With to much correction Teach would shut down so I knew I had to do some changes in how I had been taught to train dogs years ago.  My research lead to me to learn about shaping.  This is something very new for us.  I recently did two posts about this a few weeks ago, Learning to Shape & More Shaping.  If you want to check those out feel free.  It kind of gives a back ground on shaping and what we've done so far.

Today for the blog hop I want to show our end result of teaching the Bang Trick.  When I first started this trick with Teach (when he was a puppy) I did it the old way (the only way I really knew) and that was pushing him over and saying bang as he got a treat.  He just didn't comprehend that way at all.  So I knew there had to be another way and I found it.

The post I did about this showed several videos which I will show again here.  They are the steps we used to obtain the behavior I wanted.

The first video is just Teach going to his bed and laying down.  You'll see in this video that I did lure his head over and once that was achieved a light bulb went off for him.

The second video I have removed the bed and he knows that I want him to lay down and then over to his side.  

The last video I have is the end result when I just added the cue to it.

We do this sporadically in the house now with great results.  We haven't moved to doing it outside or in other environments when there are more distractions but that will come.

This method of training makes the dog think and try things to make that click happen.  He loves to try and figure things out himself. Love just watching his brain work and his tail wag the whole time.

Thanks to the 3 hosts of this fun hop.  Looking forward to more this year.  Being new to the positive training techniques this is something that does interest us.  We are currently working on some new behaviors using the shaping technique and I will provide those through the hop each month.