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.