We’re happy to repeat some popular online classes this year! If you’ve been in our Foundation Class, there is Advanced Obedience Skills, where you can progress and learn even more fun behaviors, while perfecting the ones you’ve already learned. If you haven’t been in our Foundation Class, we’ll offer a new round of it, as well as a new round of Relationship Building Class.
Check our classes out here, and let us know if you have any questions. You can send us an e-mail, or just comment below. Also, let us know if there are other classes that you’d like us to offer this spring.
Here’s a video of Wilco learning to spin yesterday. Sometimes, targeting is very useful!
And here’s a funny video of Epic trying to focus on running contact with some puppy distractions 😀
Squid has turned 17 weeks. These are some of the things we have been working on this past week. First clip is just Squid relaxing in her open crate while dogs are working around her and we’re teaching (ok, I’m videotaping my puppy :D). Second clip is of Squid playing with me, listening to “sit” and “stand” command and also reacting to her “go see” command. She is a very social puppy 😀
Next clip is of her starting to sit pretty, or at least, throwing her hands in the air. Very cute. Then hiding her nose in her paws and crawling.
Last clip is showing a challenge in stimulus control that we have been working on lately. She is supposed to nose touch repetedly to the palm of my hand, freezing her nose on the back of my hand and doing her puppy yoga if she sees the closed fist.
Squid has started to be more offensive in shaping, wich I love. She started offering so many cool things when she got frustrated, that I decided to just have sessions where I capture and shape her puppy goofiness. I know it might make other things harder for me, because I have clicked for different things in one session (without me being in charge of switching behaviors), something I very rarely do. I want my dogs to keep working on the same thing until I decide to do something new. But on the other hand, I got some really cool behaviors and Squid is working much more activly. She likes to lie down, something that I have never reinforced before, but now decided to accept as she is offering so many cool things. She has offered and repeated:
Hind paw on face
Crossing front legs
Rolling over
Putting front paw over nose
Streching front legs
We have also been working on getting up with front paws on a small perch and holding a toy in her mouth when I tempt her with treats. She has been on a few walks with the older dogs out on the fields (no herding the older dogs yet, so she can join us for now) and we have been working on circle work on the agility field.
Squid with our german pointer Pax
Squid with Pi and Missy (can you believe they are both border collies?)
Pi, flying over the fields
On Monday, we brought her to some friends and family with small children. She med Kaja, 5 month old human puppy, and Benjamin, Thomas’ 8 months old nephew. She was really sweet with the babies and was really happy to see them. We also got to walk in the city at night.
Squid and Kaja
Squid wants to share toys with Kaja
We’re getting ready for an agility trial tomorrow. Shejpa hasn’t been in a trial since her debut in September and I really, really hope we’ll do well tomorrow. It’s indoors on carpet and that should suite her fine.
Happy birthday to Pi who turned one year old today!
We made a little video of some recent tricks yesterday. That little setter just makes me laugh so much when I train her! Missy is in the video as well:
On monday night, I decided to teach Pi to put her paw over her eyes. A common method for teaching that is to put tape on the dogs nose and click as the dog uses her paw to remove the annoyance. I decided to use shaping instead. It took me quite a while to get her to put her paw on her nose, but once she got the hang of it, she started offering a really cool behavior. I love this about shaping tricks that are about body awareness, the dog will start streching her self and gradually do more advanced movements as her body adjusts. I also bought some more ceramic bowls for the dogs. Not for eating from, but for standing in 😀 Pi is quite good at the middle bowl, but has only been able to put three paws in the smallest one (that require her to put her front paws on her back paws).
