I have noticed that Riva has a spook period going on. Before he has been so confident and friendly in all situations but now he is spooked by certain things. Definately nothing serious and I think it will pass without any special attention. The first thing I noticed was that he barked in the parked car at some people walking towards the car. Then we saw the same elf puppet that he had seen outside the crafts shop a couple of weeks earlier and this time he wooffed at it a couple of times before going to check it out and being convinced its harmless. His reactions are still quite mild, a few woofs and a short hesitation before going to examine the target and then he relaxes. But to prevent them from escalating I did a few things. First of all, the crate he rides in the car is now covered so he can't see out. The second thing is a bit of extra effort in taking him to new and different places to desensitize him and if there is something that seems really hard for him, I will use the bar open/bar closed method to get him over it.
We met with Salme again last Wednesday. Things are progressing well with Riva but I have been a bit lazy about training. I must shape up and keep training regularly. The main homework we got from Salme is building time on stays, both sitting and down. Riva is old enough to be able to concentrate on doing things for a bit longer times.
26.11.04
17.11.04
13.11.04
First encounter with a dumbbell
During this week there has been quite a lot of discussion about retrieve and its teaching on a mailinglist I'm on and that inspired me to introduce the dumbbell to Riva.
I haven't started a formal retrieve training with him yet but I have been encouraging some behaviors that will help in it in the future. Like carrying things and bringing them to me, either to play with or to exchange to a treat. One of the "rules" is that I will not pick up things from the ground, if Riva wants to play he has to pick the toy up and offer it to me. Then we can play. Another one is that releasing a toy to my hand on cue will (usually) result in tossing another toy for him to play with. This makes teaching him a release cue easy because he is not resenting giving up his fun toy but instead anticipating the continuing of the play. In addition to the release cue ("kiitos") I have been pairing a cue ("ole hyvä") with him taking a toy that I offer into his mouth.
So with this in the background I took out my lightest dumbbell (about 400 g). I held it in my hand and told Riva "ole hyvä" and he took it in his mouth and started to walk around with it all wiggly. I praised him lavishly for carrying the dumbbell, eventhough he didn't really bring it to me just paraded around with it. He dropped the dumbbell a couple of times and I stopped praising him to which he reacted by picking up the dumbbell and I of course continued praising him. Then as he came to me again I took the dumbbell with "kiitos" and we played with his cotton rope toy for a while. The second time I offered the dumbbell to him I started to walk backwards and he followed me with the dumbbell in his mouth. Some more lavish praise and a play with the rope ended the session. I was tempted to try more but I guess I'm learning something since I had the good sense to stop it short and sweet.
I think that's enough for now and for his age. His hold of the dumbbell was good, solid and no chewing. I will continue reinforcing the same things as before and we'll get back to training a formal retrieve after he has grown a bit.
I haven't started a formal retrieve training with him yet but I have been encouraging some behaviors that will help in it in the future. Like carrying things and bringing them to me, either to play with or to exchange to a treat. One of the "rules" is that I will not pick up things from the ground, if Riva wants to play he has to pick the toy up and offer it to me. Then we can play. Another one is that releasing a toy to my hand on cue will (usually) result in tossing another toy for him to play with. This makes teaching him a release cue easy because he is not resenting giving up his fun toy but instead anticipating the continuing of the play. In addition to the release cue ("kiitos") I have been pairing a cue ("ole hyvä") with him taking a toy that I offer into his mouth.
So with this in the background I took out my lightest dumbbell (about 400 g). I held it in my hand and told Riva "ole hyvä" and he took it in his mouth and started to walk around with it all wiggly. I praised him lavishly for carrying the dumbbell, eventhough he didn't really bring it to me just paraded around with it. He dropped the dumbbell a couple of times and I stopped praising him to which he reacted by picking up the dumbbell and I of course continued praising him. Then as he came to me again I took the dumbbell with "kiitos" and we played with his cotton rope toy for a while. The second time I offered the dumbbell to him I started to walk backwards and he followed me with the dumbbell in his mouth. Some more lavish praise and a play with the rope ended the session. I was tempted to try more but I guess I'm learning something since I had the good sense to stop it short and sweet.
I think that's enough for now and for his age. His hold of the dumbbell was good, solid and no chewing. I will continue reinforcing the same things as before and we'll get back to training a formal retrieve after he has grown a bit.
8.11.04
New friends
Last Saturday we met Luffe (Hazelmoor Kalimero). His owners were interested in search and so we headed to the forest together for a bit of training. Riva continued his alert training. This was Luffe's second search training and he is definitely a natural, friendly and outgoing.
After training we people gossiped while the boys (they only have a little over a month difference in age) played. They had a blast, splashing in the ditch, wrestling in the mud and chasing each other. I love watching dogs play.
After training we people gossiped while the boys (they only have a little over a month difference in age) played. They had a blast, splashing in the ditch, wrestling in the mud and chasing each other. I love watching dogs play.
1.11.04
Training a bark alert
I finally got started with training an alert behaviour for Riva. I started on Saturday and quickly got good barks from him. We played with a toy for a while and then I hid the toy under my hands. Riva tried offering sit and down and some other behaviours we have been training but soon he got frustrated and gave a bark. I tossed the toy for him and then we would play some more. After a couple of repetitions he started to offer the bark as soon as I hid the toy under my hands. That was enough for the first session.
On Sunday we had search training and we continued alert training there with others than me. Katja played with Riva first and then "stole" the toy and hid it under her hands. Again Riva offered a down first (which is not a bad thing at all) but quickly started to offer barking. Then he had a break while we trained some other dogs. Before ending the training he got an other round of alert practice. At this point he only needs to let out one good bark to get the toy but little by little he will have to bark longer and longer before getting his reward. The final alert behaviour will also consist of other elements, not just the barking. That is why I said that him offering a down in alert training is not a bad thing. He is not supposed to jump against or otherwise touch the victim and the easiest way to prevent that is to teach him that alert means (for example) "down, stay there and bark". Or it could be "sit and bark", which ever seems to come naturally.
We also got first snow last night! It propably won't last but it sure looks pretty.
On Sunday we had search training and we continued alert training there with others than me. Katja played with Riva first and then "stole" the toy and hid it under her hands. Again Riva offered a down first (which is not a bad thing at all) but quickly started to offer barking. Then he had a break while we trained some other dogs. Before ending the training he got an other round of alert practice. At this point he only needs to let out one good bark to get the toy but little by little he will have to bark longer and longer before getting his reward. The final alert behaviour will also consist of other elements, not just the barking. That is why I said that him offering a down in alert training is not a bad thing. He is not supposed to jump against or otherwise touch the victim and the easiest way to prevent that is to teach him that alert means (for example) "down, stay there and bark". Or it could be "sit and bark", which ever seems to come naturally.
We also got first snow last night! It propably won't last but it sure looks pretty.
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