Jett is doing fabulous!!!

I am so pleased how Jett is doing with his lessons with Kellie Connel. We had a great session moving along in our layers of training. 

We warmed up doing our bop exercises. I walked Jett, then when he least expected, I bopped the side of his back leg, walked faster. Then had him touch my hand. He jumped up to my hand to bop it with his nose. Then fed him treats. We repeated this exercise a few times. Each time he was more animated and excited to do the exercise. 

After each exercise, Jett goes in a crate to rest, while Kellie explains the next exercise. 

We went back to the upside down bowl. Jett already knows how to do a 360 in both direction on the bowl.. so we were able to do a heeling exercise. 

To start. Jett put his front paws on the upside down bowl. I fed him for warm up. Then I had him pivot a 360 on the upside bowl. The pivoting is good for heeling exercises. He pivoted to move to my left side

From the upside down bowl,  Kellie had me toss a treat and say the word chase. It is important to do a cue word so they dont chase any treat. Jett chased the treat after the cue "chase", then I called him back to the upside down bowl, he put his front paws on it and pivoted to a heel position with my hand movement. 

A few times I pretended to throw my hand like I was going to throw a treat. I did not say chase. Jett jumped off the bowl, but he learned no treat was thrown. I only want him to go after a treat when I say "Chase". 

The next couple of times after throwing the treat, saying "chase" and calling him back to the upside down bowl, Kellie had me use more hand signals, a circular motion over the bowl to encourage Jett to pivot to perfect heeling position. After a few trials he was getting better at getting to heel position. 

Rest time for Jett. Kellie explains the next lesson. 

We put the platform out. We are going to have Jett go on the platform looking at me. I stuffed some mozzarella balls on my mouth. I say "look" for Jett to look at me and I spit out the cheese ball, and Jett eats it. This is a great exercise for focus to my face. I do this a few times, then throw the food and say "chase". Jett would get the treat, I walked to the other side of the platform and call Jett on the platform. I say "look" , spit out the ball, Jett got the cheese ball and intensely waited for the next one. A few cheese balls, I then said "chase", Jett ran to get the cheese ball, I walked to the other side of the short end of the platform, called Jett back up on the platform. Each time he started to trot back eagar to work. 

What a great exercise to get his obedience skills going. The little layers are getting us there. 

We did another obedience exercise. We did a heeling exercise. I said, "let's go" and when he came into heeling position on the left and bopped my hand that was straight in front.of him, I rewarded. This is a start.of heeling into.position. we only did this about 2-3 times. 

For our last exercise, Jett got to play with two flirt poles. This exercise is to build his prey and play drive. Jet has done the flirt pole a few times already with Kellie. This time we were going to do two. 

What Kellie did was picked up one flirt pole and encouraged Jett to play. He really showed more intense interest this time. She then played tug with Jett. The tug was on the side, not in the front. After a few seconds of play, Kellie grabbed the other flirt pole. Jett kept the first one while Jett chased the other. Eventually Jett let go, and played with the second flirt pole. Jett chased and had good fun, then Kellie played tug. Then Kellie picked up the other flirt pole. Jett chased snd had fun, then played tug. They went back and forth. Jett's activity with the flirt pole has significantly improved. His inner play is finally coming out. We are tapping into Jett's drive. Which we had a really slow start. To see this now, I am happy to see we are going to get some good play sessions out of Jett. We keep building. 

This was a successful session. His skills are being layered and building. Can't wait until the next session. 

Getting back to our lessons

It has been before the dark of winter I have had my lesson with Kellie Connel. Last time I saw her was last August..About 9-10 months ago. I am so glad we are back again. This was the first time Kellie saw Jett since he was neutered. She liked the change and what she saw in Jett. 

We started out with the bop exercise to warm up. Bopped him on his rump, I run another direction and when he follows me, I give him a treat. We did this a few times. 

While doing the bop, walking along my side, he was doing like he does when we do heels. I was happy to see this that he defaulted into this. 

Then our next exercise was to do the bop, then move away and have Jett Jump up and nose my fist. The first few times he wasnt that excited, then he really got into this exercise. He showed how he liked being engaged in this exercise. As time went on he got more engaged and animated.

A new exercise we did was to get Jett more focused on my face and to pay more attention to me. We want to get Jett more focused on me than the environment around him. We took string cheese and I bit 4 pieces to put in my mouth. I am to spit out a piece of cheese and have Jett catch the cheese. The first few tries, Jett kept missing the cheese, but after a few session he was catching the piece of cheese in his mouth. Then we changed the criteria that I would say a cue "look".Then spit the cheese out. I wasn't spitting the cheese as well and Jett was missing the cheese. Changing criteria you need to learn how to do the exercise again under new conditions. After a few tries, I would say "look," spit out the cheese and Jett would catch it. We finally.perfected our skill. 

So the homework is do the above 3 exercises in my house. In my front yard, on the side walk and at a parking lot.

So the bop exercise, touch my hand and spitting out food for them to catch to keep looking at me. 

For our fun ending exercise, we did the flirt pole with the rabbit pelt tied to the flirt pole. Jett's enthusiasm was more intense and he is getting more into chasing the toy. He has a lot of potential and glad he is liking playing with a toy. 

A new trainer and lesson

I saw a new instructor. We did mostly talking. She had to ask me questions to get a feel what I was doing with Jett. She did asses Jett. 

The final conclusion is she pin pointed how having Mickey as an easy dog that made it hard for me to get my head around training Jett. Mickey was a resilient dog, Jett needs more confidence and reinforcement. 

As she assessed my training, she noticed my mechanical skills need a bit of work and Jett needs more reinforcement. It was nice to have the trainer.point out where I needed help. 

She noted that when I am away from home, do some simple behaviors like touch, sit and down since he gets above threshold. Use lots of reinforcements to build confidence. Also when away from home, do not use toys in distraction areas. Need to.make sure he is not distracted when playing with toys

 

 

I also need to get out and about more. Jett needs more environmental exposure. 

The training room we were in, you could hear the dogs barking 9n the background. It did take Jett a little while to settle hearing the dogs, but he did, which was a big plus. 

This trainer did feel Jett has a work drive, it is just going to take longer. That Jett is going to teach me how to be a better trainer. 

Expanding Engagement. More duration

Today certanly was a warm day. It is August. We have been having 91-97 weather. Some days in 3 digits. I havent been feeling that great from the heat. I know the dogs struggle too. 

Warm up, said boop, "touch his hip with two fingers," said "yep" and ran a few feet behind his hip. run behind 

his hinds and fed. Did this a few on both sides. 

Then the bowl......

Our lesson today was the next step from the upside down bowl. We used one bowl. The bowl is being used as a target. So we had Jet put front paws on the target. Then in an excited voice, I ran a few feet aeay, raised my palm high so get had to jump up. I said touch, Jett bopped my hand, then I ran a few feed away, raised my palm, said touch and Jett bopped my hand. Then we ran back to the bowl and I fed Jett at the bowl. 

We did this a few times. The purpose of this exercise is not to feed after every activity. We are work8ng 9n duration doing two touches. Dogs could get frustrated, "where is my treat" and dure enough. Jett was mouthing my leg in frustration

We then switched the game. Go to nowl, then touch my hand, touch my hand again,  and feed. Switch the activity to put variety in the activity of when the dog will get fed. When you vary this activity, the dog will not predict. The anticipation over rides. 

We went back to feed at bowl and touch once, then feed  at the bowl. Then bowl, feed, two touches back at the bowl and feed. This various activity, Jett stopped mouthing my.leg. 

I find that Jett gets better engage and it isnt about all food. Its the anticipation. 

I noticed Jett had been gettiIng too much food in a row, he was getting bored. Changing things around, he is a lot more engaged. 

We are both enjoying these engagements. the heat is too much and most likely need a break when it vools. 

Enjoying Jett

Jett at this writing is a week shy of 15 months. I am loving my lessons with him. We are doing more engagement that is bringing the fun in our interactions. Jett is certainly happier. 

We started off with the boop game to warm up. You can read last's blog to get the details. My mechanical skills need work. 

Then the instructor put 3 cones out. They were for me to set up stations. 

The first cone was to touch my hand high. Then run to the next cone to do a circle. Then the last cone a boop. Touch his rump quickly and run behind tail, but give food as soon as he turns around..

 When I did the boop. I gave a bunch of treats like a jackpot. Today I had beef frajita strips. 

We did the 3 stations again to prefect mechanical skills. Jett started getting happier each time.

Now we changed the game a little bit. We will do the 3 stations in a row, but twice station twice. After each station I would whoo hooo, first station hand touch, whoo hooo! Then run to the next station and circle, whooo hooo, run to the next station boop then say yes!!! And feed treats. Now do it again! After the second time Jett was put in the crate and I rested in a chair. We did this again

Jett was enjoying the exercise. He is happier. I love doing exercises that bring Jett's excitement up.

The last excitement we wanted to bring his ball excitement up. The instructor worked with two balls. It is to entice him to let go of the ball to get to chase/play with the other ball. Key points, i will never chase or grab the ball from Jett. It is focused on Jett dropping the first ball and then human throws the second one to play. Jett did play a little keep away, but the human never chases. 

I did this game in the late 80's because Watson, my border collie at that time, wouldn't drop his ball.This trick works. 

I am happy to see Jett getting into playing with balls. He is so much happier. I think he does a little ball playing at doggie day care. 

Jett is blossoming

This lesson was 

July 22, 2020

Today's lesson I thought of Mickey a lot. I remember the years of building a bond. It takes years to build that bond with your dog. All the training, all the practice, all the learning, a big chunk of  time involved. Years of training builds relationship. Years of positive training builds strength with your dog. Then they leave us because they dont live long enough.

We get the next puppy and that bond takes years to build again. 

I am building that bond with Jett mow. 

Jett's lesson started with a continuation from last lesson of getting him to turn around. Last lesson he would be facing one way and I went to his tail. He would turn around. The idea is to get the dog to follow you. You can read the last blog for that previous lesson. 

Today's lesson we expanded on the last lesson. I am standing perpendicular to Jett. I keep him perpendicular with a treat in my hand. I go to his rump, tap the side of his rump with two fingers, say boop, click with a clicker and run straight back just to get him turned to follow me. This running creates excitement. At first, Jett was with a puzzled face. I then did tis exercise going the other direction. I fed the other way to get him faced the other direction and did the boop game again by taping on his rump, saying boop, clicking at the same time and running behind his rump a short distance and then feeding a treat. This started to create more 

engagement as I did this exercise.  

 

The more I did this back and forth, the more Jett was, "Oh! I get this game!" Jett became more engaged. It developed into a nice chase game and Jett was right there. 

The next lesson, the instructor put two upside down bowls down. They were target points. Jett has done circles on bowls, so he explored the bowls as if, I have done this before. He explored both bowls and then front paws on one. I treated him several times. Then "whooo hooo" ran to the the other bowl and when his feet jumped on the bowl, i treated again. We went back and forth with excitement a few times. Then when Jett offered a circle behavior,  we knew we could start him doing circles on the bowls. So now offer a circle and ""Whoooo hooo" to the other bowl, have him circle and run back to the other bowl. 

Now the next step, instructor removed one of the bowls. We went from one bowl to the empty space. I held my hand up and said "touch" Jett jumped up to touch my hand. Yay!!! We ran back to the bowl, had Jett do a circle on the bowl, then "yippe" l run to the space, have Jett touch my hand. Then ran back to the bowl to do a circle. The other bowl was put back down, had Jett run to it, and do another circle then instructor picked up the other bowl. Now we ran to the space, jett touched my hand when I said touch. A few reps then the other bowl picked up and relays back and forth touching my hand in empty spaces,, no nowls. Engaging game you can play anywhere to get his attention. 

For the last lesson, we did the flirt pole. We used a different kind with a smaller rope. When the instructor moved the flirt pole around, this time Jett didn't use his feet. He did chase with more intensity with his mouth. He has improved from last lesson. He eventually started using his mouth more. This flirt pole game is building slowly a drive in the right manner, it isnt all just chasing a toy, but how the movement is controlled. More mouth prey work. 

At the end, Jett was over the toy in prey fashion. I dropped treats for Jett, then put the treats a few feet away, and instructor put toy away. We make picking up toy positive so it is never a take. 

Homework.......

Do three exercise in a new place but mostly quiet to keep distractions down. 

Engagement with Jett

My first blog for Jett. I have done a lot of training when he was a puppy, but I hadn't started his blog. All the training I did, is lost in my head. Jett has his Novice and Intermediate tricks title. We are ready to do his advance. But this is not what I want to write about in Jett's blog. I want to write down my training session today with Kellie Connel. We did engagement.

First engagement exercise was when Jett's head came up, click and treat. When I treated, I said GOOD BOY and pat him. I did this after every time I click and treated Jett. This was the beginning of an engagement exercise I will explain in steps. Click and treat is when you mark a behavior you like with a clicker, and reinforce that behavior with a treat. When Jett started to keep his head up and not smell the outside carpet that had a lot of dog smell since this is a dog training room. We then gave Jett a 5-10 minute rest while Kellie explained what we did and explained what we will do. Got Jett out for the next session. Our next criteria was for me to stand by Jett, then walk to his tail, As soon as he shows any indication of looking back, click and treat. We did a few repetitions of that. Then Kellie had Jett and I walking one direction and then I walked a couple of steps to Jett's tail. When he turned his head back to me, click and treat. He really started to turn his head toward me. We did a few repetitions of this and he was engaged in this activity, following me more and less interested in the enticing floor with doggy smell. 

I was realy pleased with Jett's engagement. He was happy and getting into the fun. He enjoyed doing these activities. I think me patting him and having more voice really helped him. I tend to be quiet because I focus too much. So getting my animated for Jett really helped. 

Our next exercise was to start doing the touch. Thus, touching the hand. I have trained this as a pup. We did basi touch to the hand because what we wanted to do is raise the hand. So I would hold out my hand and raise it slightly, then do the touch exercise. We did the palm open since Jett was a little confused with me holding my hand as a fist. We will work more on this to eventually raise my hand so he eventually hops up to my hand. 

Then we did the flirt pole. A small little stuffed animal attached to a whip. I have one at home as I have done some flirt pole exercises. It was pleasing to see Kellie saw the drive in Jett, but she taught me better steps. I kept wanting to do tugs, and Jett wasn't ready yet. We still need to build a bit better the prey drive. Don't whip the whip around in a crazy fashion but have it so Jett chases the prey.  We need to have him catch it with his mouth and if he let's go, have the prey run again. Let him catch it and don't go too fast, I could see his drive a bit better focused and willing. He has done this exercises, but it just didn't work. It wasn't time yet. Now, I think it is time to build and to do it gradually in a systematic way.  Since I have had other trainers try and tried several other techniques, sometimes a certain way works better. So unless you meet and see the dog, you really can't give your opinion how to do it. 

I am really happy about this. I have been down that he didn't have a lot of play in him, he does, he just needed a better step to get him there. 

I really liked Kellie's lesson. It has given me hope that we are moving where we need to go. I have hope. Now I have things to practice!!!