Merry Christmas and Happy New year 2015!!!
With Lots of Love Team-S<
Monday, December 22, 2014
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Puppy- young athlete - super star of agility
There
has been a lot of debate about training with puppies and young dogs.
Lots of videos has been shared and talked about how too young dogs take
part of competitions or are trained
with very complex parts in agility. So what is the right age for
training? I have really thought about is many times.
I start training my puppies on the first day they come home.
First teach them work with clicker and then use shaping to get behaviors
that I want. As long as teaching is fun and it done in small amounts I
only see this as a beneficial for a puppy and
I.
Then
comes the specific sport training like agility. When is the right time
to start and what is appropriate training for different age levels? I don’t
think there is right answer to
this. I think it is import to see a puppy as individual because puppies
can develop in very different ways. I really have had two really
different bordercollies at this point. Pixies body was well developed
the whole time she grew. She just got bigger and
bigger. Freya on the other hand had lots of trouble with her body and
she grew super fast to her full height. She needed to have physiotherapy
to make her function normally. You need to have good eye and support team to make as good as you can have to you puppy.
Debate
on training with younger dogs, is some times hard follow, because you
don’t know which words and sayings means to everyone. I think the most
dangerous thing is to have a
famous person /trainer post a video of advance training video. Most of
the dog owners are really clueless about dogs physics and what is normal
movement and so on. This leads to over training and doing things that
the puppy might not be ready for.
New dog owners don’t have the skills and knowledge to keep
training session short and do things that are easy enough for the dog. Fancy videos don't always show the work and the little steps behind needed to be done to get this point. Amateurs can take it easily as an example and just do seen exercise without seeing his/her dogs skill level.
One thing to consider is that do I train agility if I train basic skills with pillows, boxes, rock etc.? Or is agility training if I use agility obstacles as training tools? I think everything that I teach the dog that has end goal use in agility is agility training. For example I teach a puppy to use its rear end so that it has an idea of 2on2off position later on. I built a training plan to each sport and think which are the basic building blocks that the dog needs when it grows up.
One of the building block is dogs body control and physical on condition. This is the whole base to every sport. This is something I value the most and this part of training must be done the whole life of the dog. One part of this work is physiotherapy. My dog go for treatment every month. For Pixie this very import so that she is able to give her best and also to keep her body function perfectly despite of her attack injury. Freya started to see physiotherapist from the age of 10 weeks. This has shown how she has grown and what are problem parts in her body. For me Freya has been an athlete from the day 1. My goal has been to give a change for her build a body that is strong as possible and give her body stimulation that helps keep it in a balanced stage. Agility dogs are the super athletes in dog so why not start the building from the day one.
So should you train with you puppy? Yes, but you should always take one day at a time. Learn how your dog moves, learns and develops. Also take your time to know puppy so that you can really learn see how she develops mentally. This affects how training plan must be built. Take time to get information what is proper exercise for your puppy at given age (I consider dogs as puppies for their first year of life) and also see your puppy as individual. Some puppies grow fast and some can take years to become ready for certain sports. Use physiotherapist help if you are unsure and from the professional you can get good help how to built up strong body for your puppy. Puppies can get hurt while running in woods or playing with other dogs so physiotherapy checks help you to keep puppy in balance even though something happens.
This is somethings I have thought about training and young dogs. This is learning curve that never ends and every time I get a new puppy I need to forget the old things and see the new dog as own individual. Pixie was ready to go super runner. Freya needed learn to run after she got long legs and needed some help to become balanced dog. Next dog might be somewhere in between. Something that I have learned from Pixie and Freya listen, watch, learn, wait, seek of information, enjoy and in the end YOU are responsible of your dog. No one else. You make decisions. Remember your dog will do anything for you. Are you taking best care you can of your dog?
MLPF
Sunday, December 7, 2014
See-saw training
I have needed to valuate my training with seesaw before I started to train it with Freya. Pixie does to see-saw ok but she doesn't all to way down. She comes to a contact zone but not the all the way down which makes it little slower than it could be. So here is the way I have started to built Freya's seesaw performance.
1. Bouncing is super cool
At this stage I just but a jump wing under the end that goes down so that the other end stays a little bit of the ground. I use shaping to make a dog to go and hit the contact zone. Just to make is comfortable with the movement and sound.
2. 2on2off position
First I do this with the end of seesaw down. Just shape the 2on2off positions in a new situation. I have done 2on2off position in different object like box and stairs at home so that the dog has already idea what's going on. After the dog has the idea of 2on2off on handled, I change the game by combining the bouncing game. Again I put a jump wing to the other end to make the end of seesaw of the ground. Now the dog has to jump on seesaw to make it to 2on2off position.
3. Go to the end
At this stage I start make the dog run to the end of the seesaw while I hold it up. I reward as soon as the dog reaches the end of seesaw. I lift off the dog from the seesaw for the few first training so that reward come only from running to the end. I do this until the dog is very confident of going all the way till the end.
4. Starting to put it all together
Soon as the dog goes confidently to the end I start lower to seesaw to the ground and wait for the 2on2off position. I still reward the dog of going all the way till end of the board. Gradually I slow the seesaw less and less until it comes down by its own with the dog. At this point I usually start my training with going trough the previous steps just to make sure the dog is tuned to right idea. This helps that the you get forward in every training.
5. Seesaw in distractions and part off course
This is the work I do trough out the dogs life. I start making different distractions like running, turning, putting seesaw after different obstacles etc. This is some thing that has no limits in variation in set ups. Just lots on continuing work.
With this program Freya has pretty confident and fast seesaw. Actually she has made her own sliding style. 2on2off position still need a little patient but we are getting there. Freya is now in stage 4. Hope to move on the stage 5 soon.
That's for now.....
MLPF
1. Bouncing is super cool
At this stage I just but a jump wing under the end that goes down so that the other end stays a little bit of the ground. I use shaping to make a dog to go and hit the contact zone. Just to make is comfortable with the movement and sound.
2. 2on2off position
First I do this with the end of seesaw down. Just shape the 2on2off positions in a new situation. I have done 2on2off position in different object like box and stairs at home so that the dog has already idea what's going on. After the dog has the idea of 2on2off on handled, I change the game by combining the bouncing game. Again I put a jump wing to the other end to make the end of seesaw of the ground. Now the dog has to jump on seesaw to make it to 2on2off position.
3. Go to the end
At this stage I start make the dog run to the end of the seesaw while I hold it up. I reward as soon as the dog reaches the end of seesaw. I lift off the dog from the seesaw for the few first training so that reward come only from running to the end. I do this until the dog is very confident of going all the way till the end.
4. Starting to put it all together
Soon as the dog goes confidently to the end I start lower to seesaw to the ground and wait for the 2on2off position. I still reward the dog of going all the way till end of the board. Gradually I slow the seesaw less and less until it comes down by its own with the dog. At this point I usually start my training with going trough the previous steps just to make sure the dog is tuned to right idea. This helps that the you get forward in every training.
5. Seesaw in distractions and part off course
This is the work I do trough out the dogs life. I start making different distractions like running, turning, putting seesaw after different obstacles etc. This is some thing that has no limits in variation in set ups. Just lots on continuing work.
With this program Freya has pretty confident and fast seesaw. Actually she has made her own sliding style. 2on2off position still need a little patient but we are getting there. Freya is now in stage 4. Hope to move on the stage 5 soon.
That's for now.....
MLPF
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Tricks and ob
Pixie had her ostheopathy treatment on Tuesday so we had to take a little slower the rest of the week. On Thursday we trained some "dog dancing" tricks. Our basic trick has been that Pixie can back up around an object. My goal was now to teach her to do a figure eight backing up around an object and I. I have done this combo before but we work on to make even better and also to make Pixie really understand the change of direction between me and the object. Other version of this trick was to make Pixie back up to an object and then go around it. To this combo I also combined a par where we both back up away from each other. These trick are really fun work on even though I don't have plan ever to take part in dog dancing competition.
Here are few part we have trained separately to reach our goals:
- backing up
- first away from me when I'm standing
- gradually I start to take steps backwards after Pixie starts to back up
- then we start doing backing up at the same time
- going around an object
- this I have done with shaping and I used my divan sofa to make a route that she needed learn to back up
- next stage was to make this trick work while the object in the middle of the floor in both direction
- use to same commands to make Pixie go around me
- 8 figure combo
- first around an object and stop her between me and the object (this part I had to do a lot with Pixie make her calm down enough listen to my cues)
- teach to the dog to do the combo in both directions and learn to start this combo from my side or from the side of the object
- back up away from me and going around an object
- first a rewarded back up that went near to an object and then I cued Pixie to go around
- when the ground work is done well this should come together pretty easily
- start with short backing up and gradually built up the distance that the dog needs to back up to get an object
Freya and I worked also on our obedience. I have really been very lazy lately. We haven't really done anything new. I have tried to work on our healing to make as good as possible. I have done some distraction work to make Freya work very intensively. She is gettin better and better all the time. I have also done some work with our stop and laying in healing. Going down is starting to be pretty good. Stopping still has bad and good days. I hope to make the stop faster than it is right now.
Here is video of work in Ob and some tricks:
That's all for now...
MLPF
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Freya's contact training
Today we had a another training session with running contact. I had goal to make full runs on dog walk and make turning exercise. First we did few straight runs. Freya did pretty well. I saw from the video that I need get her focus more lower. She touches the contact zone pretty well but sometimes she does it too high for my taste. I really would love to have two video-cameras- one on the side and one in the front. I could see better how different touches look like. It really is different what I see from the side and how it looks from the front. I still have problems to see when does more jumping type step. More work for me.
Freya is really super to train. Even though she has mild ADHD sometimes, she can concentrate super when we work. We have more to learn in normal living so that she doesn't need to love everybody so passionately. Also she has some issues when it comes to passing unfamiliar dogs. One on one situation still needs some work. I don't like that dog makes any sound when it is passing. Freya is so unsure that she need to bark sometimes. We are getting better and better at it. This is our biggest issue that need to be worked on.
That's all for now...
MLPF
Turning has been easy to work with. I use same cue that I have used when taught her to turn around a jump. I have used long jump pole to make it little bit easy for her and to prevent her coming down too early from the dog walk. I have still to teach her going behind a jump after rc and go forward a long distance. Here is video from today:
Freya is really super to train. Even though she has mild ADHD sometimes, she can concentrate super when we work. We have more to learn in normal living so that she doesn't need to love everybody so passionately. Also she has some issues when it comes to passing unfamiliar dogs. One on one situation still needs some work. I don't like that dog makes any sound when it is passing. Freya is so unsure that she need to bark sometimes. We are getting better and better at it. This is our biggest issue that need to be worked on.
That's all for now...
MLPF
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Running Contacts and almost good runs
Running Contacts
I have done more training with Freya's running contacts. First I have worked on her turnings and her running to an obstacle. Our first session was really good. She did really nice turns and went without mistake straight to a tunnel. I did my training from the middle part of the dog walk and also did this exercises when she did the whole dog walk. She did miss few contacts but all together Freya did really well!
Our last session from Thursday wasn't that good. Freya had really problems touching the contact when she was on my right side. On the left side did just perfect. This was really weird because her right side has alway been the "better" side. I forgot my video camera so I don't know did I do something different or has she got some kind of muscle problem. We will find this out this soon in our physiotherapy session. I also need to film our work more.
Training agility
I have started make Pixie do again her 2on2off contacts on A-frame. Our competition A-frame just became a disaster. I had enough doing fault on that. I didn't give up on our A-frame but we started to focus our work on gallop step after she comes over the peak. She really needs understand that she need to make one real gallop step and not jump or slow down. So this will our winter project.
Pixie and Freya also trained side release (this is probably isn't the right saying). This an import skill to make starts even smoother and also make them also more easy. This is something I haven't really tough Pixie. She has done this on her own. So it was nice really work with them. I still a problem of forgetting to make my move to towards a takeoff side. Here is our work from this exercise:
Competitions
Pixie and I had a competition weekends. We had good moment and not so good moments. A-frame mistakes were part of the problem but I go to train with them the next weekend. Our work can be really good when we have it all together. Course running is starting to feel really easy with Pixie and feels super. I made few handling mistakes but we very close start making nice clear round. Our team work and feeling is really good right. Here are few of our competition runs from the last few weekend:
More work ahead but it will be fun and I have the best team in the world!!!
That's for now!
MLPF
I have done more training with Freya's running contacts. First I have worked on her turnings and her running to an obstacle. Our first session was really good. She did really nice turns and went without mistake straight to a tunnel. I did my training from the middle part of the dog walk and also did this exercises when she did the whole dog walk. She did miss few contacts but all together Freya did really well!
Our last session from Thursday wasn't that good. Freya had really problems touching the contact when she was on my right side. On the left side did just perfect. This was really weird because her right side has alway been the "better" side. I forgot my video camera so I don't know did I do something different or has she got some kind of muscle problem. We will find this out this soon in our physiotherapy session. I also need to film our work more.
Training agility
I have started make Pixie do again her 2on2off contacts on A-frame. Our competition A-frame just became a disaster. I had enough doing fault on that. I didn't give up on our A-frame but we started to focus our work on gallop step after she comes over the peak. She really needs understand that she need to make one real gallop step and not jump or slow down. So this will our winter project.
Pixie and Freya also trained side release (this is probably isn't the right saying). This an import skill to make starts even smoother and also make them also more easy. This is something I haven't really tough Pixie. She has done this on her own. So it was nice really work with them. I still a problem of forgetting to make my move to towards a takeoff side. Here is our work from this exercise:
Competitions
Pixie and I had a competition weekends. We had good moment and not so good moments. A-frame mistakes were part of the problem but I go to train with them the next weekend. Our work can be really good when we have it all together. Course running is starting to feel really easy with Pixie and feels super. I made few handling mistakes but we very close start making nice clear round. Our team work and feeling is really good right. Here are few of our competition runs from the last few weekend:
More work ahead but it will be fun and I have the best team in the world!!!
That's for now!
MLPF
Monday, November 3, 2014
I think I have a little genius :D
Running contact project
I have tough Freya left and right turns on a jump. Tik as cue going right and cap as cue going left. At first I did it around a stick and then round a jumping wing. My plan was to use this also as cue when she need to turn after a contact zone. I used a stick again to help her figure the turn better. This has worked really well so far. I have always done first straight line rc and after that done some turning ones to a toy or to a tunnel. Freya has really good ability think and she changes her behavior really well if don't get reward. Our RC's will need a lot of work but o'boy love to work with them with Freya. She is just super!!!
Pixie and I had a long conversation about running A-frame. She has a habit of missing her A-frame contact in a competition. So I started to do just one at practice and if she missed it she needed go on a brake. This started to really make a change and her drive started to be on right level. I also used a box for a while to get go a little bit lower again. We will see will my work get results. We have two days of competitions in this coming weekend. I can only hope!
Obedience
Freya had training session where we worked on our laying down. This seems to be the hardest task. She just want to do active stuff. I have had a little problems to make her understand that laying doing is also a very important task. Leaving a toy to wait seems to be the best way to keep her mind in focus. We a long way before she will be ready for trial in this area.
I have started distance control training almost every day to make her body get used all the movement. Freya has improved a lot and all her changes a starting to be ready. Now we just need to work on repetition and of course little by little distance. Freya had a problem of going on side ways while she did the changes of positions. This was solved when I put her on a edge of a carpet. She didn't want to go over the carpet line and this is the way learned to control her side way movement. Freya is just so cool!!!
Clicker training
I had a fun evening few days ago. I took a piece of mouse pad and started to work on paw touch on it. My goal was to get the paw touch to a stimuli control. Paw touch has just a trick I have used to get a focus with my dogs but I want to improve clicker training skills and really make under a cue. I had so much fun to watch how differently my girls learn.
Freya got the idea pretty quickly and stopped paw touching the mouse pad until I said a cue. She only tried few times. She really used her brain to figure out what would bring the reward. Louise just hit the target with super power and did this in many session before she could wait. After she got the idea of waiting the cue her drive went really high but she could herself from hitting the target. Pixie was the hardest one. After didn't get a click from hitting the target she started to do many trick she new. It really showed that none of them were really under stimulus control and she couldn't just do nothing. I needed to catch even a little moments that she went away from the target so I could give her the cue. It took a long while but she got a hang of it after multiple session. I really recommend this kind task to everyone. It really teaches you so much about your dogs and of course improves your training skills.
That's all for now!! Enjoy your time with your dogs!!
MLPF
I have tough Freya left and right turns on a jump. Tik as cue going right and cap as cue going left. At first I did it around a stick and then round a jumping wing. My plan was to use this also as cue when she need to turn after a contact zone. I used a stick again to help her figure the turn better. This has worked really well so far. I have always done first straight line rc and after that done some turning ones to a toy or to a tunnel. Freya has really good ability think and she changes her behavior really well if don't get reward. Our RC's will need a lot of work but o'boy love to work with them with Freya. She is just super!!!
Pixie and I had a long conversation about running A-frame. She has a habit of missing her A-frame contact in a competition. So I started to do just one at practice and if she missed it she needed go on a brake. This started to really make a change and her drive started to be on right level. I also used a box for a while to get go a little bit lower again. We will see will my work get results. We have two days of competitions in this coming weekend. I can only hope!
Obedience
Freya had training session where we worked on our laying down. This seems to be the hardest task. She just want to do active stuff. I have had a little problems to make her understand that laying doing is also a very important task. Leaving a toy to wait seems to be the best way to keep her mind in focus. We a long way before she will be ready for trial in this area.
I have started distance control training almost every day to make her body get used all the movement. Freya has improved a lot and all her changes a starting to be ready. Now we just need to work on repetition and of course little by little distance. Freya had a problem of going on side ways while she did the changes of positions. This was solved when I put her on a edge of a carpet. She didn't want to go over the carpet line and this is the way learned to control her side way movement. Freya is just so cool!!!
Clicker training
I had a fun evening few days ago. I took a piece of mouse pad and started to work on paw touch on it. My goal was to get the paw touch to a stimuli control. Paw touch has just a trick I have used to get a focus with my dogs but I want to improve clicker training skills and really make under a cue. I had so much fun to watch how differently my girls learn.
Freya got the idea pretty quickly and stopped paw touching the mouse pad until I said a cue. She only tried few times. She really used her brain to figure out what would bring the reward. Louise just hit the target with super power and did this in many session before she could wait. After she got the idea of waiting the cue her drive went really high but she could herself from hitting the target. Pixie was the hardest one. After didn't get a click from hitting the target she started to do many trick she new. It really showed that none of them were really under stimulus control and she couldn't just do nothing. I needed to catch even a little moments that she went away from the target so I could give her the cue. It took a long while but she got a hang of it after multiple session. I really recommend this kind task to everyone. It really teaches you so much about your dogs and of course improves your training skills.
That's all for now!! Enjoy your time with your dogs!!
MLPF
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