Here is our just under the wire Tricky T-day post! We have been really busy lately (here is why) so must admit to not making much time for training but started working on teaching 'back' last week and decided to get back to it tonight and this is our current progress. I have done maybe 5 short sessions of this but the video is our first try in at least a week! Not bad, but you can see we have a ways to go. Moose really catches on quickly considering how little I work with him!
We followed one of Honey's methods for training this and started by leaning forward (not stepping or walking towards him, just leaning) and clicking for any hint of a step back. From the start he would take a full step at least so we had an easy start. Since he was doing that pretty reliably I added the back command right as he was stepping back and that is about where in this process this video starts. Before tonight I had never given the back command alone without leaning and it is possible that this was a bigger step than he was ready for so we went back to leaning a few times.
It is important to remember that if you try to advance too fast and you are both getting frustrated and need a break, go back to really easy tries before ending the training session so it ends happy. You will also see I give the command 'stand' and click and treat for that during various training sessions. This is a command I just recently taught so am still reinforcing it when I use it, plus when he sits out of frustration it sort of snaps him out of it when he wins a treat by standing. Not sure if this would be confusing to some pups but it seems to work for us!
LinkWithin
Great job Moose! You even went in a straight line. I am totally impressed. I liked it when you started offering up other moves. Whoops. I do that all the time.
ReplyDeleteI cannot back up at all yet.
Slobbers,
Mango
Wooos! We teach and learn back in a different way, but this works for you, so great! As long as you figure out what Mom wants , you get the treat! Mom is always confusing me too, I try all of the tricks until I get one that gets me a cookie!
ReplyDelete-Kira The BeaWootiful
Moose:
ReplyDeleteWe're very impressed!!!
Actually, we do "back" when Mom wants us to do "come."
We also do "turn around in three circles before sitting in front of the door."
Wirey woofs!!!
Jake and Just Harry
Hi Moose - Congratulations! You won the Squirrel Scramble contest on my blog! Thanks for playing and for coming to my party. Please leave me another comment or e-mail me at tcolnar@aol.com to let me know which charity you would like to have the $25 donation sent to... you've got a great name btw:)
ReplyDeleteMom: Wow Moose that is great!!!!
ReplyDeleteParker: Moose could you maybe not be sooo smart, cause then mom's gonna get ideas....
Moose, I am trying to close the window explorer really quickly cause momster is going to expect me to do all those hard tricks! You're too talented!
ReplyDeletePlease tell Moose how very smart he is!!
ReplyDeletecool video Moose!!!
ReplyDelete:D
hugs and kisses from kikos world
YAY MOOSE!!!!! Am SO impressed!! Wow - you learn so quickly!! Don't be fooled by my vidoes - it took me ages to catch on in the beginning. My human says your human is a great trainer - she's really clear and consistent, which is so important. She loves how your tail is wagging at a 100 mile a minute! :-) And also how you offer other behaviours - that would be so good in a free-shaping session, she says!
ReplyDeleteOooh, am feeling so guilty now after seeing your post and Mango's Tricky-T day post...I haven't done a Tricky T-day post in 2 weeks! Just been too busy with dancing stuff...anyway, am hoping next week for Tricky T-Day to FINALLY do that video showing how I put my dance routines together, so that maybe some of you can have a go at dancing too! :-)
Slobbers,
Honey the Great Dane
ps, oh, forgot to say - tell your human that us doggies often respond better to body language/cues than to voice commands anyway - like I still back up better when my human leans/walks into me than if I just hear the command...although in my case, body cues are good coz in my dance routines, I need to respond just by watching my human, even if I can't hear her! :-)