Training challenge?

[Amanda]

Would anyone be interested in a group training challenge? Maybe make a month long theme where we all work toward teaching a trick, obedience task, rally, or other such fun and report to the group on how our training is going. We could share videos, help troubleshoot for anyone having a hard time with something, and hold each other accountable for working a behavior to completion. I have a lot of half trained behaviors that aren’t proofed or generalized as well as several that have no name. Some ideas for behaviors might be:

Shake/high five
Play dead
Roll over
Nose target
Front foot target
Back foot target
Backing up
Chin rest
Heel/side
Speak
Sit stay/down stay/stand stay
Go to mat/bed/place
Say your prayers
Sit pretty
Fetch
Etc

Would you be interested? Share some ideas for tasks or behaviors that interest you!

[connie]

I'm interested!

What I really want is to work on control exercises in group settings. Unless I am at a training class, I never have only one dog with me; and I am really tired of a gaggle of dogs exploding out of my car, bursting out the door, etc. I need to work on group stays and calling a single dog; the eye contact exercise before release from the car; whatever else will help. I want to short-circuit the 'group mind' and get each of the four (Rowley, Alex, Beau and Dee) to FOCUS even when they are in a group.

This is something best done on my own, since I will never take all four dogs to a class at one time. So yes, I'm in!

[emmas_mom]

I think I would be interested in that. I tend to be rather inconsistent and sloppy with training, and Maggie forever surprises me with how quickly she picks some things up or possibly remembers them from her former life, and how much fun she has showing me that she knows how to do something. The other day I was waiting to meet someone near a fenced-in dog park. The area for big dogs wasn't anywhere I'd take timid Maggie, but the area for small dogs was empty so I took her in there. There are a few things in the area, like a row of big rocks set a foot or so apart, a pretend fire hydrant, and a vertical hoop-type thing (think of an agility tunnel that is only 5" wide and perhaps five inches from the ground). I was trying to get her to go through the hoop for a treat, and the first try she was hesitant to put her head or her paws through it. Then she tried to go around it. But all of a sudden - after maybe 2-3 minutes of me working close to the hoop with her - a lightbulb went on and she took herself 6 ft away, sat in a perfect sit facing the hoop, then when I said hoop, she FLEW through it as proud as punch. And then did that about a dozen more times - she sat 6-8 feet, I walked 6-8 feet away from the other side of the hoop, and then I said "Hoop" and she flew through and came and sat right in front of me. She must have learned that in her former (pre-shelter) life. I want to explore what else she knows ('on your mat' which was also a command I didn't have to teach her, as was 'on the couch' and 'off the couch' and a few other things).

My variation of the control exercise challenge Connie mentions would be to teach Maggie some modicum of control with barking. I don't mind that she barks when we play or to alert me to someone at the door. The problem is getting her to turn off the bark when I tell her to - like when she goes crazy because she hears the neighbour's car door, or the phone rings (even on tv), or a leaf dares to drift past the window. Yesterday she went wild when the notification bell on my tablet rang to signal an email had come in. Really Maggie??? Most of the time she's a quiet girl, but when she goes batty, she goes batty and no command (like on your mat) can break through that excitement.

[connie]

Jean, I taught Rowley to bark on command, at the suggestion of Kevin Behan (a trainer in Vermont). I waited until he was barking, created a cue ('say woof!') and after a few times of eliciting the barking with the cue, I also cued a stop ('that'll do' with an upraised hand like a stop sign). That might work with Maggie. After she picks up on the fact that she's being *encouraged* to bark, the fact that she's also being told to stop will probably be accepted fairly easily.

OTOH, she's a Sheltie. So I make no guarantees. Beau is the barker in my bunch, and I haven't been able to teach him to offer the behavior and then halt it.

[Amanda]

Awesome... let’s do this! I only have one pup at the moment, but stays are a big deal. She rocks them at home. At agility, she can’t do it. Too exciting. Soon I will have two and I totally want to have them respond to cues individually. That is so cool to watch. So maybe a stay challenge for April?

[maxs_mommy]

Max needs some brain stimulation, I'm in. He knows target, sit, stay (knowing and doing are totally different though), shake. I Need to figure out something new for him to learn that doesn't involve his mouth and the visual cue for it since he's deaf now.

[connie]

Aside from the group thing, what I want to work on is LEAVE IT with Dee. On her AAT exam that was the one thing she didn't ace -- she was pulling me towards the pathetic pile of four pieces of crappy kibble the whole time. My petsitter stayed in my house last week while I was in Louisiana and Dee went into her tote bag and pulled out smoked gouda and dried fruit and ate every bit of it. Obviously, Dee should never be left around food, or food left around Dee, but it would be nice if she could drop it once she's busted. Dare to dream ...

[SherriA]

Count me in too! Henry knows lots of things but most of them we don't practice often enough for them to be rock solid. He really need a long stay, as well as a stay when he can't see me. He'll stay, until his little beagle brain turns off and he forgets that he's actually working (or when his little beagle brain decides he's earned a treat so I should pay up). He also hasn't been able to stay while I walk around him - he has some peripheral vision deficeits that probably play into it - and I want to work on that as well.

Fun stuff too though! We're perfecting "peek a boo" and just started learning to skateboard this weekend.

[Amanda]

Here is a great place to start proofing a stay. It says down, but you could substitute sit or mat/place.

https://www.boulderhumane.org/sites/def ... xation.pdf

[Trademarkbark]

I think this is a neat idea. I’ve got too much going on right now to play but I might join in later.

[Amanda]

I’m going to start a new thread for the challenge and we’ll officially kick it off in May.