Comments for Fanny's Clicker Dog Blog

Comment on Training for competition by bLuer

bLuer — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:21:44 +0000

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Comment on Thank You! by Suzanne Nanninga

Suzanne Nanninga — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:40:31 +0000

Of course! But only if I can show you a little piece of her first outdoor get-it game :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERiTQ4FJjE0

Comment on Thank You! by Petronella Grönroos

Petronella Grönroos — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:14:42 +0000

I would actually definitely be interested in observing the next class if we could do it half price… How would that work?

Comment on Thank You! by Thomas

Thomas — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:51:33 +0000

The answer is YES
I can use all of the three ways of rewarding. It depends on their attitude and anticipation in the exercise.
For dogs who have anticipate the reward coming from our hands and “thinking” forward all the time, even if they understand reversed luring, I would throw the reward behind them or place a reward behind them. But if you overdo thrown rewards, you might get trouble with too much movement. To make the dog concentrate more, you could even place the treat on the ground or in a bowl by their side very close (like 5 cm).
Vary your placement of reward, but stick to your criteria.

Comment on Thank You! by Thomas

Thomas — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:42:39 +0000

Oh, I can see that I might have been unclear. I have the dumbbells right behind the poles, just to have something visual to keep it easy in the beginning.

Comment on Thank You! by Kristiina

Kristiina — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:34:42 +0000

When increasing the distance in distant control training, do you use reward behind the dog or reward comes from your hand (or throw them)?

Comment on Thank You! by Petronella Grönroos

Petronella Grönroos — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:31:34 +0000

I would also like to ask a clarification about the directed retrieve! Thomas wrote earlier: “But you can continue keeping the poles and/or dumbbells to the sides about 6 meters from the one in the middle and maybe only 8 meters from the cone, to overtrain the angle even when the dog knows the exercise.”

So you would keep the poles at the same “depth” with the dumbbells? My first thought was that the poles would be somewhere closer to the level of the cone, for the dog to learn a big curve before picking up the dumbbell… But that was not your idea for this exercise?

Comment on Thank You! by Petronella Grönroos

Petronella Grönroos — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:26:51 +0000

And as I was watching her yesterday I also realized that I probably need to reshape her stand from sit to be a bit “shorter”. She stretches herself so much in that on so that it seems difficult to weight shift in that position…

Comment on Thank You! by Thomas

Thomas — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:37:22 +0000

Yes, it is a common problem. It is much easier to only work on the pairs. Remember that each behavior is not only a position in it self, but also a preparation for the next.

The two most common sequences are (starting from down): sit – stand – down, and stand – sit – down.
You need to practice in this order, and make sure she 1) weight shifts in a way that she can do a correct down from stand (you can split the behavior and reward the weight shift separately, maybe by using reversed luring) and 2) and if you stick to your criteria, she will be prepared and do it correctly when she learns in which order the behaviors come (you can use backchaining to teach this).

Comment on Thank You! by Petronella Grönroos

Petronella Grönroos — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:45:22 +0000

I also have a question about distant control… I’ve now come across a problem when trying to piece the changes together. Taika can do the stand-down changes the way I want her to do them, but when I combine it in the order sit-stand-down she always gets the technique wrong! I suppose it’s to do with the way she’s standing after the sit, but I’m not sure how to get her to understand that it’s not important just to end up in a down, but do it in a specific way.

Do you have this problem when combining the changes after working with them in pairs?