For our last weekend off in this long break, we had Chunk over!
Hi. Cute.
He is still a big boy, our Nephew is, no telling how big he will really be though. Chunk is in a long 'n lanky stage now and I can see his back legs are gearing up for a sprout. Who knows though? Puppies. Quite the guessing game.
He is also still a FUN boy! Toys toys toys. Toys. Tugging? Yes! Retrieve? Yes! Girly squeal throughout? YES. That's all good.
Mission with him though has been bringing up the food drive. I was able to make a connection with him and free shaping with a toy (somehow we got a great back up out of that!), but I want all the tools in our basket. Must work for food.
Smart smart smart!
After cycling through three kinds of treats, we found a winner? Well, a wiener. Turkey dogs. Num. He decided he could do some shaping for treats after all. Of course, I'm no fool (MOST days) so I used the almighty toy as the mega jackpot communicator. Ding ding ding! So many lightbulbs flickering. The power company was probably getting phone calls about all the electrical surges...
We worked on 'four feet in a box' to start, and he gathered fairly quickly that 4 feet go in boxes. This was a major improvement from the first attempt at a simple paw target where he wasn't able to connect the dots. I think some more work on general tasks (all feet or any feet) will lead the way to the finer and more selective tasks. Experiment!
We also did some table foundations and introduced the auto drop on a tabletop. (Rhymes! Yay!) I'm lucky that he does a down as a default, but it was still a waiting game to start. A little help from the ball and he caught on really fast.
CUTE. And tired from workin'!
Other new games we played were cone shaping and wobble boarding. He thought the cone work was sketchy, but I think he was intentionally moving behind it. I'll see what it looks like next time. Wobble board is merely at the contact/duration stage. He loves bounding off the big ones like they are a spring board, so we had to work on a) having him realize he is controlling the movement an b) remaining on the board while he does this. I think he got it, after awhile he was just wavering back and forth like a buoy. Adorable.
Video:
Plan for him going forward includes lots of total body awareness. And teaching a really good GO. Family genes say he will be more inclined to turn in so I want him to understand that me running straight equals him running straight. People are not sheep!!
After play time with me, The Pup got her chance to take him to school. She sure loves her boyfriend, but she sure loves to kick his butt too.
The Pup had her first Thanksgiving. Tragically, tryptophan had no effect on her.
The turkey overall though... mmmmm.... Happy puppy.
Um, did you guys want a bite or something?
The Pup continues her study of White Dog's counter surfing techniques.
Well, no one said White Dog had a perfect record.
The Dog is also an old hat when it comes to counter surfing. However, typically not as successful due to her stubby little legs.
Black Dog would like it noted that she takes no part in naughty counter surfing.
When people are looking, at any rate.
The Pup was able to catch on fairly quickly...
Curse those short legs.
Hope everyone else enjoyed their Turkey Day as much as we did! Is anyone else currently subsisting on sweet potato casserole? I know I am!
***
So basically I have some new great things to be thankful for.
Enter the 'prayer' segment.
I've been crossing all available appendages, hoping and praying for an offer on a position I'd recently interviewed for. I didn't dare mention it in case of unintended jinxing, but it's official:
The Project has a new payroll funding our weekend antics!
Yay!
I'm so excited. The pretty much best part? TONS of vacation time!
You know what that means...
More three day agility shows!
Double Yay!
The Dog was helping to celebrate. She is such a booze hound.
Sorry, Pup, none for you. I just don't trust you with a glass bottle...
***
And then there's the running.
Who says that just because it's nearly December in Minnesota you can't play agility?
So much practice recently. I've triggered my favorite recurring injury of shin splints- or whatever, someday I might figure out what's actually going on- running so many dang dogwalks.
Just in time for a show this weekend!
Luckily it was *only* AKC, so I figured it was safe to navigate all of four runs spread out over hours and hours. I actually fared pretty well, only having spiky pain after those dang dogwalks.
The Dog was, I think, having her own pains as well. I'm not sure; she may have been full of turkey, but she wasn't moving exactly right this weekend. THREE rounds gone to knocked bars. Weird bars too, not her normal in/out of tunnels or ones down due to me getting in the way. Her first standard run looked pretty good and she had a nice fast time but one weird bar at the end. Her JWW run looked terrible to me, many bars. After Saturday I got clever and enlisted kind folks to take video. Both runs showed some odd jumping style- chin down and head very high. Not a lot of power. I want to say that there is something funny in her front or neck- she stretched out really well in her shoulders and rear so something that I don't know as well. A new problem area?
At any rate, she held it together for a pretty nice last run. Still the odd jumping form, but it was a pretty friendly 'Dog course' so she made it through and ended up in first. I must say, she turned it on for the dogwalk and aced that part. At least I know she had a little fun!
Video:
Another AKC show next weekend. Potential to finish off her MX and MXJ this year, which would be fun! Mostly, time to start working on 6 double Qs... since the plan is Tulsa 2013. Exciting!
***
In Pup news, she's still being awesome. In this brief respite from updates, she's turned 11 brilliant months old. Her big breakthrough has been on the weave pole plane. Here is a super crappy clip of her weaving 2 sets of 4. Sorry if it makes anyone barf. It's quite Cloverfield-esque.
Since the video, she has gone on to weave 6 poles. I'm so proud! We aren't doing too much since she's still young (though thankfully not growing anymore) so I'm impressed that she has caught on so quickly. Clearly she is doing her part to get ready for the big debut set for 3-31-2012. Woo! The BEST part is that she's weaving and running for toys now! And bringing them back! WOW!
***
We're all having fun with tricks now too. After taking the summer to train, you know, agility, it's time to get back at trick fun time.
I'm thinking I'll get some adorable video of the girls at it this week- The Pup is learning 'bow' and 'hug' and moving on to the next step in cik/cap turns. She's also learning how to chill out ALONE when The Dog has a turn. So far we haven't gotten to the point of any doors being shut. Solitude makes The Pup VERY sad.
The Dog is finally learning the shut doors. Now I'll have one dog trying to slam my fingers in drawers and another trying to to lock me out.
My favorite, though, is 'hug sister' where The Dog is supposed to put her arm around The Pup.
She's getting pretty good at not mauling The Pup's face!
Yep, no one can sum up this weather better than Ron Burgundy.
It's...so...hot...
I totally know how the candy bar The Boyfriend left on his care seat felt (i.e. melty).
But that's ok, we're completely insane so we practice dogwalks anyways. But we do this before we have our glass of milk.
Video from last night- the eureka of running continues.
She's made a connection between running the half pint and running the full size. The bounce factor was pretty high today so her end performance was a little weird- it's hard to tell, but she is hitting very nicely. It's just easier to for her to run with the board doesn't mimic a bouncy castle. I am really, really not complaining. She is a genius. We celebrated with a White Trash Shower (getting hosed down in the front yard).
I'm taking a bit of a break with The Pup on her equipment work. I have to hit the full DW hard with The Dog now and it's too high for a baby. She's still a fragile little fetus and I don't want to risk any injuries. Not to mention that I am lazy and switching the sizes twice a day would make me barf from excessive activity.
So instead, she's going to work on Smart Puppy more inside. Our online class is all finished so we are on our own. We had to do a final compilation video to 'graduate' (and to get our FREE GIFT! This class was so awesomely worth it!!!) showing all our finished tricks or at least the progress we made. Here's ours- it's adorably nostaligic. You'll see.
I may even start taking her to obedience class- gulp. She has to get used to around working other dogs eventually. I am thinking I may split an hour between her and The Dog. The Dog can do the stands, figure 8s and recalls and The Pup can practice heeling and stays...maybe. The only problem is the class I like which is SUPPOSED to be Novice is actually filled with dogs working towards OTCHs and crap like that who want to just drill the 'easy skills' so they will probably run screaming for the hills once they see The Pup breaking her stay to say HI to the other dogs. Sigh.
For now though, she is having fun being herself. However weird that may be. Last night, she invented a new game.
Most of her games seem to involve barking obnoxiously to get The Dog to chase her out of annoyance. Then she tries to outrun The Dog before her butt gets bitten. This version of the game added the extra bonus level where max points seemed to be achieved by boinging off the arm of the couch as far as she could.
I just figured out the puppies are 6 months old now!
In some ways I can hardly believe it, but yeah, I guess they ARE growing up. The Pup has ceased with destroying the bathroom every time I take a shower.
She fights bravely for the toy in tug of war with The Dog now.
She is the loudest thing ever in her crate (she's figured out what she's missing out on when she's in there!).
Then of course there is the genius factor.
Inside her sizable baseball head, there is a baseball brain too, filled with many tricks.
Yep, just 6 months old and already turning tricks. And letting people take pictures! Scandalous. I warned her that they'd probably end up on the internet...
***
Voila, the "Monster" series...
Original Monster
COOKIE Monster.
Zombie Monster wants more braaaiiinns
Godzilla Monster
And the "Where's Yer Butt Go" Series:
Does it go on a wall??
No? Hmm....
Does it go on the Leader??
No? Not there either?
Does it go on the truck???
No, definitely not on the truck. Maybe...
It goes in the air!!
You got it! Genius, I tell ya!
***
Also, I've shameless stolen the following images without consent, because I have to show off The Pup's equally adorable siblings. I'm so lucky to be in touch with their Leaders and to get so many updates. (Hearing that it's not just MY puppy that is naughty is so comforting!) I saw these fresh 6 month shots the other day and couldn't resist stealing...er, sharing-
Mr. Crime aka Beefcake
Ms. Triton, looking quite svelte after all the coffee and cigarettes!
***
So I suppose I should update on The Pup's training status too, seems appropriate.
Besides tricks, we're still making our way through agility basics. She is being an ace at weave channels (moved 'em in ONE NOTCH! woo!) and I know she "gets" it because she's turned up MPH through them. Happy to report that the 'weave channels, no guides' approach still hasn't bit me on the butt.
No changes or unexpected complications for the DW board work. She gets on, runs off straight every time. A bit boring really, heheh.This weekend I hope to get my DW assembled so I can start back chaining across the full but low obstacle.
Tunnel is pretty fun now, she will send to it independently but still comes out as quick as she can to find me again.
We introduced the tire, no problems there. It hasn't (yet) occurred to her to go anywhere but through the middle. Give it time...
Teeter is looking super- I'm extremely happy with her performance. We've made our way to a foot tall at the apex, she's running (FAST!) through the tip and applying breaks nicely to hold the four on end position. Probably will end up sliding based on how it's going now, she seems comfortable with that feeling. She loves the dang thing!
Table is lovely. I'm a terrible owner, we practice on the 16" table- 12" wasn't cutting it for getting her to jump up in a down position and was starting to go against what we'd worked on. But she loves table. LOVES it. She has an adorable way of jumping on while at the same time turning in air to make sure she lands, in the down position, so she is facing me. Good multitasking? We just started working on me walking away and no elbows popping up. One of the downsides of short-haired dogs!
"Jumps" (don't worry, still essentially no height there!) are looking better every time. She was a bit Velcro-y (which I suppose is natural the way I teach them) but now is seeking them out. We can race a line without her running around- for the most part she does what is in the line I've set- which was totally the goal. It's only been the last few sessions where she's seemed to think these exercises were really fun. I think before she was thinking about what she was doing and what I was doing. Now she's got a handle on it though and is having a blast. I like that she is largely very respectful of my handling and has picked up on the various signals. Fronts, blinds and post turns are really nice. We just started rears which were harder due to Velcro-iness but she's catching on.
And in my quest for being for amazing to her, I've started just doing super short sessions, alternating her with The Dog. And she always goes second. Rather than try 'leave 'em wanting more' I'm sort of trying to cut it off when attention wanes. No attention? You're done. She REALLY wants to be the one 'out' so going away for not focusing should get through to her quickly. She definitely came out stronger each time last night trying this tactic.
And (proud Leader moment of boasting!!) she even managed to work in the same ring as another dog last night! Without chasing the other dog!! The other dog was a super exciting barking Sheltie too, her favorite kind of dog to chase. I was really happy with that- it's her absolute weakness- and the fact that she maintained attention and upheld excellent obstacle performance showed me that she knew it was 'her' time so she better not waste it!
So yeah, that's where we are at. Sitting pretty good on my goals for her for the summer. Here's to another productive 6 months of fun!
Its one of those things like... if your significant other was cheating on you, would you want to know?
If you had one year to live, would you want to know?
Well, maybe not THAT serious, but you get what I mean. Those hard questions that make you chose between blissful ignorance and a reality that requires your attention.
For me, I always say I'd like to know. Lay it on me; tell me everything. That way- even if it's not good- I have a chance. I can do or not do, but there is a chance.
Even still, today I'm wondering if I'd rather not know.
Yesterday I had The Dog in for an appointment with a very knowledgeable vet in regards to agility ability. I had some general concerns regarding her shoulders (that dang ding again!) and wanted an overall evaluation of her performance ability. She is becoming a far more solid dog in terms of mood and speed predictability but some things still make me wonder- is everything ok? Knowing the type of learner The Dog is, by now we should have steady weaves. There is very little reason her Aframe should vary in performance. Yet both of these obstacles change weekend to weekend. Hmmm. Put that together with the ding and our recent discovery that she should basically live at a chiropractor and you get: Questions. So to the doctor we went.
Answers are hard. We found that the shoulder ding was healed, but due to overcompensation she was experience some strain and pain in the other shoulder. OK. Acute. Easy enough to rehab away. The rear end though had some surprising discoveries. I've always known she was a bit tight in her muscle structure, but without a real point of comparison I didn't realize how tight. And how potentially damaging that is. It all makes sense, and it explains a lot of quirky things she does, but still was surprising to hear. I've always regarded her as a 'good' jumper- but it seems her form is less than ideal for the long haul. While I won't get into a debate on what does or doesn't make for good, safe jumping, I will admit that there is a need to at least build her ability to extend if for no other reason than to lessen the chance for possible injury (which at this point, sounds pretty high).
I won't say I wasn't upset over the results- there was a lot of initial "MY DOG IS BROKEN!!!" but I'm doing better now after speaking to some people who've been there and then some. I didn't get the impression I have to stop working her (in fact, my homework insists on a lot of retraining) but still felt so guilty running her at the beginning of the day today. Then it seemed a bit silly. She is careful with her body in agility. I always do my best to control for extraneous variable. She would rather run than not and I'd rather keep going than stop too. I have, as I said, homework, so there is a plan of action. I've made a choice to do in this case that I feel good about.
And it seems really, REALLY silly after our second run in particular. She's running well. She had fun. Her jumping isn't as bad as I thought- she can extend some and she certainly isn't slowing down. So I'll take it as yet another skill to train in the name of The Project.
Evidence that she's probably not broken...
But also, evidence that there IS something that needs some fixing.
As far as how today actually went with all this on my mind, she did qualifying in Standard and was in fourth, and qualified in Novice Fast too. I would HOPE that my Silver Gamblers Dog would make it through a tunnel and a jump but YOU NEVER KNOW! Jumpers, the first class, went poorly. The fact that I was worried she- the"ticking time bomb"- would explode led to some passive handling. Combine that with me thinking it was a nice easy course that I could assume her path equaled DOOM. Oh, yeah, also I had recently been training some distance tunnel sends. That equaled extra DOOM. She took off like a shot on the easy start, and completely missed my passive rear crosses, instead ending up focused on the tunnel pulling her far off course TWICE. It was all bad bad bad so I walked us off. Not mad at her in the slightest- some times it just can't be salvaged. My mindset was wrong from the get go and she was just playing the wrong game (if that was Snookers I'm sure she woulda ROCKED it). After that I got some input, hit reset and we were good to go.
***
The Pup (who detests second billing) is anything but broken. (If you don't count her teeth falling out like MAD.) Here's her most recent ST e-course video.
Her heeling is spectacular. I will never teach heeling another way (bold statement, but I don't know how anything could have better results?). She is progressing on her side 2o2o and pole grabs too. Also a clip of her skateboarding- she prefers to leap onto it and ride it, so I'm making her go slow and actually push along. The best part is her cik/cap turns. She does know the directionals and is coming along pretty ideally, I've been told. Fun fun fun!
I had an 'official' measurement on her today- 14.75". The judge of measure thought she was quite likely to stay under 16" at this point. Fingers crossed. So very, very crossed. For both my girls!
Of course, it WOULD take the impending end of the world for The Pup to finally start to grasp the concept of dropping an object in another object.
If you've been here recently, you may know I've been tearing my hair out trying to figure out how to shape the "put it in" trick. (Though seriously, WHY would I want TWO dogs that try to drop toys in the toilet??? I must learn to think these things through). It was in our homework for the ST course and we were failing MISERABLY. Seriously. I whined and whined on the class forum about my failures. I whined and whined on a previous post. I stupidly reinforced this trick further with The Dog in order to feel like I wasn't less of a trainer/human being.
I tried about 50 different approaches. But still The Pup just looked at me. Or did 'monster.' Or took the object and chewed on it. Or ran away with it. She certainly didn't bring it back or try to drop it by the bowl. We couldn't even shape the most basic part- taking it and holding it. Every time I clicked, she let go for the treat. Clicking without treats (playing with a toy) meant not a lot to her.
But Duh.
Wrong approach.
ST told me it wasn't actually about the hold, but the drop. I should let her take it, and click for dropping it, as she was going to do anyways, near the bowl (which would be conveniently close). Then in the bowl.
Big. Fat. DUH.
10 minutes later- she has it.
OK, so I still don't feel like much of a trainer for not thinking of that myself, but whatever. I don't need all the answers. I have to learn too. Click/Treat me!
So, if the world ends, at least we got #4 on the homework.
This’ll show those nasty little kids who never shared their Trix with the Rabbit.
Trix are for DOGS now- ha!
OK, I guess they are for rabbits too- per the RABBIT SHOW JUMPING LINK that our friend at BC Insanity found.I’m so getting rabbits now.
So there you go: Rabbits and Dogs, 1. Kids, 0. Reason one thousand seven hundred and twelve that I have dogs instead of kids still. For anyone keeping track.
OK so I really digressed a bit there. What can I say? I’m delirious from a severe lack of Mexican food. I need 50 cc’s of queso fundido, stat.
ANYWAYS. I really love trix. By which I mean tricks.When I brought The Pup home, I decided to experiment a little. I decided to try 100% tricks-based foundations with her. Why? Two reasons- I love tricks and find them to be very entertaining, which makes training more fun and not a chore (how many millions of times have I heard people say “UGH I can’t wait for the puppy stage to be OVER, I HATE foundations, I just want a trained DOG??” I so didn’t want that to be me.) Second, it was in the name of The Project.Remember, one of my goals here is to try new things and evolve with the sport. I definitely don’t want to be one of those people who trains every dog the same way… forever.Blah. Even if it works. Blah.I can’t even imagine how much it would suck to have an agility ‘brand’ that you are known by- try to change anything, and it’s like suddenly you’re no longer behind your own product! How limiting.So the key is to ALWAYS be trying new things.Further, (secret hidden third reason?) I’ve had the unique perspective of teaching hundreds of other people’s new dogs for several years now- I have a pretty darn good idea of what works…and what really doesn’t.So it isn’t a totally uncontrolled experiment- I am working under the reasonable assumption that this will pay off.
And it SO is, for those wondering.I am NOT working on obedience, manners (except the not biting thing), drive or the other countless things that some people obsess over.Just tricks.And ta-da.Those other things are all popping into existence on their own.PLUS I have a brilliant, confident puppy who works to engage me.She IS a bit (ha!) naughty, but it’s all coming along.And I would rather have a dog who feels good enough about herself and her life to attempt a crusade onto the counter to steal a taco (and who can solve the problem of getting up there!) than a dog who never tries anything because she’s too scared or lacks ingenuity.At least I get good stories out of it.
In case it isn’t totally obvious, we’ve had some good training sessions around here recently.I’m dang happy with how all the trick work has morphed along into obstacle performance.I did get some video of things last night:
Teeter- her favorite thing on the planet.I couldn’t even take the two seconds to lower it before she was trying to run over it, so I caved and let her do it as it was.It’s about 12” high here.This is her third time on am entire teeter. Contributing tricks: Wobble board, perch work, perch work on wobble board, Four feet in a box, plank work, ‘ready-steady-go,’ drawer slams and the bang game.Find it fascinating that we spent most hours away from the actual obstacle only to have close to a proficient final product within a session or two of actually seeing it. Similar to making a really good mole sauce.
Plank work- I decided she understood the concept of committing to staying on the length of the plank well enough to start raising it up. It’s maybe 6” off the ground- I grafted it onto the actual DW which works awesome(ly?), FYI.She did very well, did not come off the sides, and seems to have a non-leaping stride.I did a few (not shown) running with her so the concept wouldn’t be foreign to her in the future and those were good too.I am still targeting only to food, not toys. I’ve dubbed the ‘method’ Tex/Mex: a Daisy/Silvia bastard brain child- I took what I liked and what is appropriate for The Pup from their training and squished it together.I very much agree with the Daisy/Linda idea that thinking matters most right now and will equal more correct behaviors, which equals more positive experiences/reinforcement, which equals confidence which equals speed. I’ve seen this in action on the jump training- why not apply it to contacts too? So this is another experiment.
As for jumping, we’ve done many sessions of the various one jump c/t exercises and I decided to move to the next stage of walking through sequences.Obviously, the jumps are low, basically non jumps. We will revisit the one jump work when it comes time to raise the bar, but before then I have lots of time to get her used to seeking out jumps, loving them, and learning my handling cues too.Also am simultaneously teaching the cik/cap style turns.
Not completely throwing Silvia’s idea on speed from the get-go though, doing lots and lots of flatwork with this concept in mind.(The Pup is the best chaser ever.) I really liked the idea of training everything separately- handling away from equipment and equipment from other equipment so I am doing this to some extent. Hopefully it all mushes together like some kind of beautiful agility nacho plate.
Not to be outdone, The Dog is lovely. Cik/cap turns up to 20” and holding strong. I can’t get over that I have to do it, but we are building lots of tunnel drive still and last night I had fun directing her into various tunnels from across the ring at breakneck speed.Oh, she had fun too, don’t worry.
Now, onto the next big problem- getting’ me some Mexican-y goodness. Ole!
I’ve got a great idea for a movie plot. Here’s the pitch-
The Pup sees dead people.
See, Gary Spivey, the psychic who is always on KDWB, says that pets are often able to see spirits. Whenever someone calls in to the radio station complaining about their pet doing weird things, like staring off into space and then running away suddenly, he says that they are seeing ghosts and demons. Creepy.
Creepier still, The Pup is always doing this. I’m convinced that she sees Ceiling Ghosts. One second, happy go lucky puppy, the next, fixated Ceiling Ghost Hunter. Great. After all my effort trying not to buy a haunted murder house, I probably got one anyways. It would appear that On The Run training school is haunted as well. They should look into that.
So far, the ghosts don’t seem too evil though. On the other hand, they might be possessing The Pup, which could explain the random acts of naughtiness like why she is always stealing my Flip and trying to eat it.
These days Hollywood seems to be all about sequels, so I’m sure they could use this as a follow up to any one of their recent blockbusters regarding the paranormal.
So there you go. I’ll be expecting my advance any day now, thanks.
***
Speaking of movies- here is my most recent video of the girls working their tricks for the ST course:
The Pup is a pivoting genius now- got some helpful feedback and we seem to have corrected the problems we were having there. She’s also doing great with 2o2o with side feet and handstand. This weekend we actually got a few that were independent of an object. She is NOT however doing great on the concept of taking a toy and then giving it back. One of the assignments was to start shaping getting a toy and putting it in a bowl or similar. Ugh. Have hit a wall. The size of the Great Wall. You know, the one in China? Serious breakdown here- she will get a toy…and run away with it. Or, she sees no point in holding the toy to begin with when there is food present.
So in order to not cry from frustration I let The Dog play at this trick and then I feel warm and fuzzy and like I am not a bad trainer after all. She loves this trick. Best trick ever. Won’t stop doing it. Toys dropped everywhere- including the toilet and in my salad bowl if we don’t pay good enough attention. Oh well. At least I was able to teach it to her to begin with.
Both dogs are also working on hugging a pole. The Dog learned this already with just one paw, so she is learning to use both paws. The Pup just perfected ‘monster’ so I’m going very slowly to maintain that while she learns to touch the pole at the same time. The Dog also has learned a cute leg lift trick. Silly, but it took a long time- her rear-end awareness training was extremely limited so she typically forgets those back feet exist. Now she knows she has at least three feet. Yay!
***
Oh, and BTW, The Pup’s official Breed of the Week is Cattle Dog. Even a lady with a real Cattle Dog thought she was one. Love AKC people, they always have the best guesses- so very rarely do they ever go for the most obvious: a mix. Hoof beats equals zebra and all that.
She likes tricks. She understands them to be the secret of treat dispensing. Hang around long enough, and she will eventually put her moves on you.
Her recent favorite...
And if that fails to produce the desired reaction, the big guns come out: PinkBelly. (As in, "see my little, pink belly? Isn't it SO CUTE that you want to give me the treat and/or toy that you have???")
"Does this do it for you???"
In the typical dog form, she will run through the routine, turning her tricks, attempting to engage me in her own brand of puppy prostitution. To spice things up for me, the "John," I decided it was time to add to the arsenal. Johns like variety.
Having seen the viral picture of the mastiff hugging the cute little baby under one arm, I thought I would try to teach this behavior to the Dog. Not having a baby I wished to sacrifice to the learning process, I determined that an adorable stuffed animal would be sufficient and less illegal.
Wiggle Puppy was the brave volunteer.
"Hi! I am a little scared! You haven't said what it is we will be doing yet...What's the Dog doing here???"
I wasn't entirely sure how to get her to do this, as the maneuver I envisioned for her isn't exactly one she produces naturally. I thought I could use a jump bar to teach her to hook her paw around something and would be able to shape the process into the final huggingness I wanted.
We started with getting her to just touch the bar, first with both paws, then just one when she became comfortable. The surface was slick, and that actually helped. She had to make a sort of claw to hang on to it and this gave me the hook shape I wanted after a few click-treats.
Next, I propped the bar on my shoulder at a slant and clicked first just touching with her paw, then only when she grasped it.
I imagine velociraptors grasped similarly...
She caught on to that pretty quickly (Oh, clicker, you are MAGIC! Plus the fact that she was working for her dinner... one kibble bit at a time. Best way to teach a new trick!). I moved the bar off me and leaned it on the couch, which was much lower and at a natural 'hugging height.' I then marked it when she grabbed the bar as before, eventually shaping it to look something like this:
Why is this picture orange??
Enter Wiggle Puppy. I grafted him onto the pole so that she could practice with the stability of the bar, but get used to targeting her paw on Wiggle.
"Um, what is up with the pole dancing stuffed puppy?"
Let's just say she really liked clawing... I mean, hugging... Wiggle Puppy. Getting her to grab for him was no problem. As illustrated below, she was soon huggin' it up big time with Wiggle Puppy. Her hugs are a bit... exuberant... so I had to hold him up while she grabbed on, but she would hold him against her other front leg on her own after that. Yay!! Good Dog!
Epilogue: Wiggle Puppy has now entered protective custody after his stint as a volunteer for the Dog. I will have to find her a more sturdy playmate while we perfect this trick- Wiggle was very floppy. And his stuffing comes out too easily.
I thought maybe a Weeble? They wobble, but they don't fall down.
