Step Up Your Training For Dog Sports
and we’re gonna very quickly do a training session having to do with how do you start developing a performance attitude then we’re going to come back and we’re going to start working on platforms I look at a really good relationship with my dogs is that my dogs just think I’m wonderful I don’t want it to be a dominant thing if you think of somebody in your life who you change something in you you’ve really admired them maybe it was a teacher maybe a teacher did something prompted something for you and you remember you just really respected this person and admired him you didn’t fear them but you really held on every word they said because they had something very unique and special you knew that they had some sort of knowledge that you wanted that’s the way I want my dogs to look at me so so here’s my observation I came over and I couldn’t tell what you were trying to get but not necessarily get on it so when she first heard her feet on the chair like but I just and so I was I was get her to do something that I wasn’t that was something that was different that’s right okay so you see her what you were going for him were just two feet on okay that’s so so you might go what can I change about the scenario could I put a little thing like that on there so she you know should I block it where there’s hardly any room for anything but her front feet because she was starting to frustrate us so if the dog did that and Cathy’s gonna comment – I can see that if the dog if the dog makes that move of something really good my goal as long as the reinforcements working and that dog wants its reinforcement right Michael is oh god I want to get it again if I if I party too much I might actually pull them away from that breakthrough a little bit so yes you can and on the other side you could say wow the reinforcement got really the reinforcements can I get another one Catherine your comment I summarized that the research on Jacques potting is not strong in that it speeds learning for the dog so I think we were really wedded to the idea that if the dog does something super special it’s our responsibility to reward bigger stronger better and that isn’t actually that true so just a little sample so we can turn the lights back on thanks guys so you know a lot of people say well how are you using them how big are they what do you do basically depends on what you want to do with them so platforms can be anything really you can you can use cut up matting you can use aerobic steps so the more the more ninety degree to you you leave the dog for this moment of a weight or somebody holding I did this with my week old puppy my husband held the puppy and I knew as soon as he let her go what’s she gonna do she can’t get on the platform so if you’ve got a dog that already is magnetized that this is can be what you work on is assuming your target to your platform what you’re doing is you’re giving the dog the visual of what the final product is you now remember if you’re moving to help prompt the dog to get on you want to start toning that down the platform asks your body target that you want so this would be in relation to if you are resetting the dog and you’re here and they’re going and getting on it now make use of that reset them throw the treat or hold it over here and then get yourself lined up so the dog is practicing coming in on this platform in relation to your body target does that make sense so takes a lot of repetition to build that because they’re so used to looking at us and they don’t get to look at a face so building up a bank for behind is takes longer than the other ones is training positions front left side heel would be your obedience if that’s all you were doing or obedience you can just work on those for the freestyle sport there’s a heck of a lot more including being creative with different positions so it’s just examples of different positions obviously magnetized dog for sure okay so the finished product which he already is ready are you ready leap a bit okay the finished product is to look into nothingness and that of course then gives the impression that he’s not paying attention where’s his attention did you hear her so you see how the platform helps her make the type pivot okay so she’s still getting her feet a bit now the secret to this is to get rid of the target for a moment I want you knows how high I’m holding the target it’s gonna leave her peripheral over the top of her head just briefly and I’m gonna click before she moves about so I’m gonna let her see it she’s gonna leave her peripheral so before she moves her head to go where to the target go I’m marking that she’s still looking into that nothingness does that make sense click quick there you go good and you can just walk to the other side so what you can do is let the click even though she’s gonna have come off just go ahead and come over here and feed and she’ll start realizing oh I I’m gonna yeah and that helps her think about that facing the other way too click and then there you go very good then you’re set to do it again so one of them is pretty easy to see I’m holding the gold idle up in the air and that’s listos cue to do his straight up for off the floor jump so how can Fenian is it to have that cue when he’s away from me than me having to go job so the ring gates the entrance to that ring you can turn into a strong visual cue of really good things right so we’re always remembered that the dogs want the visual information that’s why in agility it’s so important the way your shoulders are and your hips they’re noticing all that stuff so the first thing you’re going to do with your assistant is you’re going to let them see your new visual cue so that you practice it it’s clear that your assistant says yeah it’s it’s consistent you did it three times and you did it the same way for sure and you’re going to jumpstart the behavior that’s on verbal with just verbal only so do some reps of just verbal only and see if you truly have it on just verbal okay remember now you’re not saying your verbal while you give the verb the visual give the visual keep quiet shut up and after you do your visual then say your verbal what I knew he needs he need he knows spin on just verbal I can say spin and he’ll spin all over the world so I thought I have this lovely birthday hats and when I put it on I’d like him to spin it take your head off right and wait till he’s swallowed here’s a good example the swallow procedure he did one behavior over and over and over again but the flow was good and smooth and I changed up what I did so it actually makes it look more complex than it is but the first thing you’re gonna do is decide what’s my first behavior what’s my second and if you have a third what’s my third and try to put them you can click and treat each one of them if you want that’s fine for now but just notice where the dog’s energy is because during the click and treat you’ve stopped them and you may be fooled that when you don’t click and treat it won’t be very smooth okay okay the last behavior in your chain if it’s duration behavior in your head you’re thinking I’m gonna weave 14 weaves only do one or two before you click on tree you’re just clicking for the response of the last behavior if it’s a crawl click one or two steps of a crawl don’t ask for a huge crawl across the floor what we’re trying to do is get the dog wanting to do that last behavior
