Private lesson with Judy Oct. 23

It's been a while since I got these notes together, but entering shows is right around the corner.  If the weather would cooperate, it's time to get Mouse in the ring.

Basil:

• Teach heel position again by heeling forward slowly.  We're reinforcing her when she's keeping position now, not reinforcing the forward movement. We'll do this by doing many get closes, 45 degree pivots, etc...
• Basil also has a tendency to butt in when in heel position.  When I see her butting in with front out, I'll wiggle by
  
• Another exercise to reinforce the heel position requires the dog to back in heel position as well has move forward.  Using PVC or chicken wire, construct an L shape.  Follow the heeling pattern below by going forward, left, back, forward, back, and left again.  Repeat so that the rear is not on the outside (but on the inside so that the dog does not drift to the left).  
• I also need to start heeling very slowly, drift right, and make sure Basil drifts with me as opposed to drifting left away from me. 
• I should start treating basil right on my leg.  Not out. Not in front. She needs to get treats right on the seam of my pants. 
• I should also be holding my cue hand further back than I have.  She's scooting too far forward in heel position. 
• I also need to variate the reward she is given.  

Mouse:
 Needs to work on his stays.
On Stand for exam, I need to a barrier (pipe, chicken wire, or baby gate) to keep him from swinging his rear out too far after the jump.  I also need to give the command, pop back, and then tell him to stand.
I also need to teach him the cue for halts.  1. Slightly slow, look down (change my view), keep left food still, give sit command, and pop with leash in left hand.  2. I need the practice it with the dog. 3. Exaggerate my physical cues.  4. Drop voice cue and leash cue.  5. Do halts normally. 
I also need to work on left turns (like Basil) backing, turning, backing. 
Mouse needs more get close work like basil.
We also need to work right turns, halts, right turns, halts, and right 270's. 
For figure 8's, we need to play games on the outside of the figure 8. 

More dog training goals for Mouse and Basil - Private lesson notes from August 2009

Mouse and Basil had another private lesson on August 29th with Judy Ramsey.  We sure do have quite a bit of homework to do.  Here's my notes from our lesson. 

 For Basil:

1. Handler Error: I haven't been giving her very clear signals as when to when we are working, and when we aren't. I need to give obvious signals as to when she needs to be on task and when it is okay to chill.
2. Basil hesitates before jumping up and tends to swing out to the left when heeling instead of staying very close to my leg.  To fix this, I will heel to the right.  Either by pivoting or by veering to the right or by spiraling to the right, Basil will be challenged to keep right next to my leg.  I will do this at very short intervals, and release her to treats on the front of my calves.  That will teach her to wrap around close to my left leg. 
3. Right and Left Pivots.  I'll pivot to the right or left and release her immediately.  The goal is to teach her to not hesitate and to reinforce the heel position.  Teaching her to move to move with my left leg when I say heel (instead of just going forward) should reinforce that heel is a position, not a movement. 
4. Step right when I heel will also reinforce the heel position.  It should not matter if I step right, left, back, front, or pivot, Basil should stay glued to my left leg.
5. Shaping heeling - I haven't done this before as I started with other methods of heeling with Basil.  To shape it, I'll take a couple of steps and treat her. Take more steps and treat. More steps and treat. This is rewarding her for being by my side, but not necessarily teaching her the exact position. 
6. Building drive on starts - Starts are essentially the start of each exercise.  In competitive obedience, each exercise starts with the dog in heel position and the judge asking "Are you ready?"  At that point, my dog should be up (focused and attentive).  I start training for this by putting my dog in start position, then doing something fun.  I can play with a toy. Throw her a treat. Jump around. It needs to be something that makes my dog go "WHOA! What was that?" Over time, start position should be associated with something fun and interesting.  Start position = good things to come.

For Mouse:

1. Mouse also needs motivation on the line up.  This is a fairly common issue.  Many dogs can lose focus when sitting at the start up.  By pairing line ups with something fun, the dog will start to anticipate fun stuff during line ups, thus keeping the focus.
2. Alternate exercise with drive games - doing this increases endurance for motivation and speed.  By alternating adding a drive game after exercises instead of treating, this will build more endurance for focus, energy, and the expectation of working even after an exercise is completed. 
3. Teaching Mouse to motivate himself - This is a fast paced, pre-planned training method.  It is a mixture of changing positions mixed with exercise.  I should give Mouse a command, treat fast, then throw a toy, then give the come command, treat, throw toy, give command, push and play, throw toy.  This is should teach him endurance, as well, as focus to switch quickly from one activity to another. 
4. I need to do the same thing with sits to achieve faster sits. I should give the command to sit, fast treat, I change positions but not move far, sit command, fast treat, change positions, sit command, fast treat, change positions, sit command, etc......
5. Mouse needs more work on right turns. There are two different methods: the 270 turn and treating right out of the right turn.  We started 270 degree right turns after the last private lessons, but they are exceptionally difficult for any dog.  Dogs will have a tendency to lag, and the goal is to keep the dog right on your left leg or hip, depending on the size of the dog.  I'll start with the right turn, and treat Mouse upwards and almost across the front of my body as I'm turning.  As I turn, I'll shift my eyes, shoulders, upperbody, before turning.  Mouse is picking up on these cues when I turn slowly, but he isn't quite doing it quickly yet.  After he has mastered the right turn, we're going to move to 270 degree turns.  Using the same basic concept, I'll treat Mouse immediately out of the 270 degree turn, keep trucking it, 270 turn, and keep heeling, 270 turn, etc....

Dog Training Goals for Mouse and Basil

I had my first private lesson with Judy Ramsey @ Dogwood Dog Training in Houston today. We've been going to competitive classes with Judy and Debbie, but now my schedule only permits private lessons now. Boy are we glad to be back with Dogwood.

A few things for my kiddos to work on:
Basil: needs to be taught precise heel position. Many dogs guess at where heel position is, but we're going to teach Basil exactly where it is. When in a sit position, her neck should be lined up to my left pant seam. The exercises to do this follow:

1. With Basil in sitting position, say "sit", I step right and say "close", and Basil should follow ending up in perfect heel position.
2. With Basil in sitting position, I will say "heel" and move my left foot forward and to the right. My foot should land to the right of my right foot. Basil should move with my left foot and end of in heel position next to my left foot. The purpose of this exercise is to teach her to follow my foot, and not just move forward. This will teach her to heel close, instead of out wide. Heeling wide is a common small dog habit.
3. With Basil in sitting position, I will say "heel", and step forward with my left foot. She should follow my left foot. After she has mastered a single step, then we'll move onto two, three, and four steps. This is to teach her where heel position is whether or not my left foot is moving.
4. Right Pivots: With Basil in sitting position, I will say "heel", and step clockwise (to the right) with my left leg. She should move to the right with my left leg. This will teach her to hug close and tight to my left even when I am moving right. If I keep repeating this pattern, I will eventually make a hexagon shape with my foot pattern.


Additionally, I'll use rulers or pvc to keep her from heeling wide. With the rules or pvc to the left of both of us, it will encourage her to keep from going wide and sticking close to me as we move. Dogs will naturally stay further away from random things on the floor, unless they are attracted to them of course. To do the right pivots with pipe, I can place pipe in a hexagon shape and work my dog inside the hexagon. Over time, the dog will continue to stay close to me even if we are far away from the rulers or pvc. Then we can fade out the rulers or pvc. I also need to be really low key with Basil as she is easily excitable. I used to let her bounce around, but now there will be no more bouncing. No bouncing in the show ring!

Mouse: Need to build drive and motivation for heeling. From now on, we will not heel from a sitting position. We'll do 80% from standing, and 20% from a sitting position. We will also never heel "Slow". We will always heel fast and reward Mouse in the forging position. The final goal is to get him to heel at least 100 ft at a fast without lagging. Also, I will start incorporating 270 degree right turns into the heel pattern with "get-its" immediately out of the turn. Then a very short heel (15 feet) then another 270 degree right turn. Over time, I should start doing variable rewards after the turn. More jackpot rewards for Mouse.