Go Click Challenge

Week 17: “Speak!”

goclickchallenge — Mon, 10 May 2010 03:09:08 +0000

I know, I know, a few shudder to think of the havoc this could bring to a household!

If you dog already uses his/her voice on cue, then work on different levels of it “whisper…” and “SHOUT!” or other variations!

What kind of fun cues can you use for this behavior?

How do you teach it?!

It’s one of those behaviors I’ve captured with Bailey, and will attempt to capture with Buzz… we’ll see!

Adding the Cue

goclickchallenge — Thu, 06 May 2010 00:10:55 +0000

Now that we have fast offered drops, let’s start to add the cue. When you expect your dog to drop, give the cue. Click for the behavior, reinforce in position (under his chin). If your dog gets up, feed approximately where he dropped.

Day 3: Drop on Recall

goclickchallenge — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:09:39 +0000

Is your dog readily offering downs while you are slowly moving backwards? If not…keep at the previous step. If your dog is doing well, increase your speed a little bit every few repetitions. Your goal will to be able to move backwards as fast as you can and your dog still offers a down.

Try tossing the treats behind your dog or off to the side. While he is eating, start to move backwards, to give you a little more space and your dog a little more speed.

Kristen

Day 2: Drop on Recall

goclickchallenge — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 01:19:45 +0000

Do a quick “offered downs” session. After your dog eats the treat, is he immediately going into a Down or is he thinking other thoughts first? If he is immediately going down, you can go on to the next step. If he’s hesitating or offering other behaviors, stay at this stage, possibly making a few modifications to your training sessions.

Part II:
Get 2-3 offered downs. Slowly move backwards. So slowly! Your dog will ofter a down. Click, and reinforce in position, then encourage your dog to get up. Repeat. Many times. Gradually increase your speed.

Week 16: Drop on Recall

goclickchallenge — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 01:18:57 +0000

This week at Megan’s request we’ll be teaching or perfecting aspects of a “Drop on Recall” exercise.

The specific aspect of this that we will be working on is the dog dropping, on cue, while running towards his handler. We’ll be trying a slightly different format for this week’s GCC and give some daily prompts. Not all dogs will progress at this pace and especially if the dog already has some of the foundation in place.

We are assuming the dog has a fold-back down and will offer this behavior. Today we’ll review offered Downs. For the average dog, we want about 15 downs per minute. But this is not practical for all dogs.

Kristen

Week 15: Go Hide

goclickchallenge — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 04:39:17 +0000

Inspired by a photographer friend (or two) who taught dogs to “go hide” behind something so the photos are not always of dog schnozzes, this week’s challenge is “go hide.” Go find something to hide your furry-self behind, be it a tree, a table, another dog, a blade of grass–GO HIDE!

This challenge will only be one week long. It was realized in chat last night that we did NOT explain the last challenge was a two week one, to see if we could get more participants. Two weeks was too long for us, so back to one.

Megan
(No, my dogs don’t know this behavior, but boy do I plan on actually teaching it!)

Week 14: Discrimination- 4 paws on vs 2 paws on

goclickchallenge — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 02:51:25 +0000

This weeks challenge is a discrimination between two paws on an object and 4 paws on an object. We will have TWO weeks to train this challenge. Let us know if you prefer one or two weeks between challenges.

Hopefully Gryffin will learn that “up” really doesn’t mean to jump on top of cars…

Week 13, Front

goclickchallenge — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 01:21:22 +0000

This week it is time for an often-used obedience behavior. Front! For those with a perfect front (definitely not us) or those who really want to solidify the dog’s understanding of front position, work on a movement front. Do circles, move laterally, forward, backward… get creative!

Dog should be able to “find front” and hit it from… anywhere! Start small, break it down, and be successful!

Megan

ETA: “front” is your dog coming in close, in front of you, and sitting. His body should be straight and square to his handler. This is in obedience and rally.

New “rules”.
–Post your training and finished behavior videos under the post for that behavior. So, if you have sticky target behavior, reply under that post with a comment and the video link.
–We will only “count” videos to your score if they are posted by the Tuesday following the challenge. This means you have until Tuesday the 30th for your sticky target video to be posted, and your front video can be posted by April 6th.

Thanks for all the submissions!

Kristen

How is your training progressing?

goclickchallenge — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:29:43 +0000

Here’s a video clip of me working with all three dogs (separately!).

I was clicking for extended touches, even if it was “open mouth” or “side of mouth”. I was very surprised that both Luna and Blaze initially had some of these. But I’ll always take what we get. This will be a harder training project for people with very ‘clean’ target behaviors.

With Griffin, he has a rather nice sticky target, but it’s not a nose…it can be chin, top of nose, side of face… I don’t think I will specify one or the other as they’re all cute and he gets the concept of “remain there.” You have to say he’s cute!

Kristen

Week 5: Muzzle Training Video Submission

goclickchallenge — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 20:39:09 +0000

Very clever use of many props! This dog sure understands the concept.