Saturday, June 26, 2004
One of the agility things is an a-frame. Basically the dog goes up one side of the 'A' and down the other. The bottom part of the frame is painted, and the dog must touch it. This is to prevent injuries, from dogs taking flying leaps off the top.
Well, to do that well you have to get your dog to touch the bottom. Thus a new command: "target." What happens is you point to somewhere (or something) and your dog either touches it with his paw (for big dogs) or his nose (for small dogs). Small dogs can do the paw thing to.
Mojo's getting the hang of it. Most of the time he uses his nose, every once in a while he'll smack the target with his paw.
The target they used in class was a tupperware top. It's circular, plastic, easy to chew, and you can hide a treat under it. So you put the treat under the top, then say "target" and point, and when your dog does the right thing he gets the treat.
Ela's modified this somewhat - the treat isn't under the thing, you give it after. That way anything we point at can be a target.
We also worked on getting him to lie down while running. So he's running towards you, and you say "lie down" and he stops and lies down. It works, mostly. It doesn't take Mojo long to figure out what to do, if you're clear enough. He does have problems when he just wakes up, though. You can see his brain turning over, trying to figure out what you're saying.
This AM Ela brought him out, and when she woke him up & said "outside" he looked at her for a few seconds, as if to say "Huh? What are you saying?" Then he figured it out and bounded downstairs.
Well, to do that well you have to get your dog to touch the bottom. Thus a new command: "target." What happens is you point to somewhere (or something) and your dog either touches it with his paw (for big dogs) or his nose (for small dogs). Small dogs can do the paw thing to.
Mojo's getting the hang of it. Most of the time he uses his nose, every once in a while he'll smack the target with his paw.
The target they used in class was a tupperware top. It's circular, plastic, easy to chew, and you can hide a treat under it. So you put the treat under the top, then say "target" and point, and when your dog does the right thing he gets the treat.
Ela's modified this somewhat - the treat isn't under the thing, you give it after. That way anything we point at can be a target.
We also worked on getting him to lie down while running. So he's running towards you, and you say "lie down" and he stops and lies down. It works, mostly. It doesn't take Mojo long to figure out what to do, if you're clear enough. He does have problems when he just wakes up, though. You can see his brain turning over, trying to figure out what you're saying.
This AM Ela brought him out, and when she woke him up & said "outside" he looked at her for a few seconds, as if to say "Huh? What are you saying?" Then he figured it out and bounded downstairs.
