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PE For Wally 6 - Working Through Zoomies
Published on 2012-04-12 22:21:00
Like probably every dog, Wally gets those seeming sudden, out-of-nowhere bursts of energy we sometimes call "zoomies". When this happens for Wally, he blazes around, just running and running.So I thought - maybe there's some way we can use this time for something other than him just doing...whatever it is dogs do when they get zoomies.When he gets like this, I tell him something to do. For example, he's having zoomies, I throw his ball somewhere and tell him "Find your ball! Donde esta pelota?!" [..] > read more
PE for Wally 5 - Sprints
Published on 2012-03-23 23:01:00
With the warming weather (borderline to downright hot), we were able to get out for some more PE outdoors. This time, I wanted to see his speed.I used trees and a utility box in the ground as landmarks for the start and finish. Unfortunately, I don't know how much distance it is, but I estimated by "counting" steps, and, yes, I measured my foot. Anyway, I counted the steps and estimated the distance. The first distance was 724 1/2 inches, about 20 yards. The second one was about 14 yards, 514 1/ [..] > read more
Wally's First Look At New House
Published on 2012-03-19 09:24:00
With our house now re-built and all new, I took Wally over to start getting him acclimated. Turns out, though, he didn't need any acclimation at all. he was waggy-tailed and wide-eyed about the new house, looking like he just won a million raw steak bones!He was excited from the start, remembering the neighborhood and probably picking up the familiar scents from the dogs there. He remembered instantly where his spots where and all that. Then once inside the house, he went from room to room (even [..] > read more
Wally's First Exposure To Weave Polls
Published on 2012-03-16 11:23:00
Wally got his first taste of what an agility dog has to do. Of course, I would start with the hardest obstacle on the course (unknowingly, I swear!)And, needless to say, Wally was less-than-pleased about seeing these "big white things" moving around while I was putting them together. I got some PVC poles that can angle and connect/disconnect easily to put in how many poles you want.Of course, I'm not going to make it super easy at first, but not overly hard. And I got my clicker and some top-end [..] > read more
Wally Vs Foam 20-sided Die
Published on 2012-03-14 21:45:00
I bought Wally a 20-sided die to play with. After all, his person is a RPG fan and used to play AD&D in his school days.So, of course, he had to have this big 20-sider when I saw it and for a reasonable price.It arrived today and I introduced it to Wally. He took to it immediately (probably because it looks like a ball at first...and being purple doesn't hurt - easy for him to see), but then he realized it doesn't roll like a ball, but he can put his paws on it and stuff and it moves funny. He r [..] > read more
All-Positive Monday 28 - El Zorro (The Fox)
Published on 2012-02-20 20:59:00
For this Monday, we worked on a new object and a new Spanish word. The object is his fox toy and the word is, "zorro", which means "fox" in Spanish.However, there seems to be something about this word that Wally does not like at all because he just looks at me like I'm crazy. He won't go to the toy, or if he does, he looks around a bit and sits. This is really, really interesting because it's the first time he's ever had this type of response since he (and I) have started learning some Spanish w [..] > read more
"All Positive Monday 27" - Heel position
Published on 2012-02-06 22:14:00
Been a while for an All-Positive Monday entry, but today I decided to try to build heel position with this approach.What I did was click and treat (mark and reward) whenever Wally was in heel position. I gave no cues or anything of that nature. When he reached heel, he got the reward, even if he seemed as though he was going to go too far.Being the food-monger that he is and of course the "click" is burned into his head, he immediately looked up for the treat. After that, he stayed in the positi [..] > read more
Wally Still Remembers, and Loves, Home
Published on 2012-01-30 22:34:00
Went by the house today to take care of stuff and brought Wally along, figuring he'd enjoy the chance to sniff the old grass and stuff.Boy did he ever. He immediately wanted to go sit on the porch that I've taught him to do so many times. And then I took him to the fields we ran on and practiced our ball catching and looooong distance recall and retrieving and he was just so intense. Charging at me like he loves to do when I call for a front from 90 feet away and just seeing how BIG his eyes wer [..] > read more
Object Discrimination 6 - Ball (Pelota) and Star (Estrella)
Published on 2012-01-12 17:23:00
Getting back into the groove with object discrimination and it's a review process for now, assuming he still remembered anything from when we tried this last. Of course, I don't have all the old objects (though he still has the bone) - so that brings up a new object I bought for him, his fuzzy star-shaped toy.He loves that toy, so that's always a plus. For the ball, I'm using one of the balls we were using to practice catching with.I put the ball and star on the ground and said "pelota". Of cour [..] > read more
Mom Gets In On The Action
Published on 2012-01-08 18:12:00
My mom was making Wally do some of the stuff I had him do, and caught a video of her getting Wally to walk/hop on his back legs. Hope you enjoy them! Originally from http://eadt-blog.blogspot.com > read more
PE For Wally 4: Balancing And Walking With a Ball
Published on 2012-01-07 14:46:00
Alrighty then, back to training. This is what I'm talking about.While still trying to get all the stuff we had or at least something similar, there is still that medicine ball - it survived. So might as well use it.So that was the idea for this. I wanted him to put his front paws on the ball and walk. Of course, he looks at me like I'm some psycho alien dog. "How do you come up with this stuff to make me do?" kind of look.But, all resistance is cast aside when a bread ball or a piece of ham ente [..] > read more
Settling Down Some
Published on 2011-12-15 18:44:00
Well, we're finally out of the hotel and into our temporary housing and got internet back.Things are trying to settle back in to something resembling normal finally. That will be good for everyone involved, including Wally.The first few days with Wally saw him do a lot of whining and being scared to be alone. It must have been yet another sudden change and being in a house again with so much empty space and its all new. I tried to give him a room that we weren't going to use so he could have it, [..] > read more
Displaced By a Fire. Much Is Lost But Wally Stays Strong
Published on 2011-11-10 17:14:00
There hasn't been much training going on of any kind lately, thanks to a recent house fire that has forced us out of our home. Many of Wally's and mine things are gone, as are many of the notes and articles we were using to train with.So much of what we were doing is stopped since things like the blue rug and such are no longer around. As such, we've been just going through the basics and mostly trying to keep Wally as stable a possible so he can make an adjustment as well.To his credit, Wally h [..] > read more
All-Positive Monday 26 - Quest of The Blue Rug
Published on 2011-10-25 03:25:00
The blue rug remains the focus of our training so far, and we're still working on a making it a place he will want to go on and thus make it a very attractive place for him to go to.We worked more on shaping and then just getting the spot being a trigger for a reward even when not making it an explicit target of training. If he walks on it during the day, he gets a click and treat. If he walks on it while playing, I'll praise and give him a treat. If he lays on it, sits on it, plays on it, whate [..] > read more
The Square Blue Rug
Published on 2011-10-20 00:00:00
I'm trying to think of things to do with the blue rug I had bought for him some time earlier. At first, he wasusing it as part of where he laid in my room, but now that his new bed is there and the rug moved to the floor in front of his crate, I'm trying to think of new things to do with it.Right now, I'm shaping him to sit and lay on it, and he got the idea pretty fast. But I wonder if that's all we can do with it. Perhaps I should see what else he comes up with. Maybe leave something he can pi [..] > read more
Spanish for Wally: Adentro y Afuera 2
Published on 2011-10-13 23:33:00
Wally is starting to get the idea of the words, and mostly I use them when I would use "inside" and "outside", respectively. One thing that is interesting is that when I said "Afuera", at first he hesitated. The reason was because I didn't say "outside". I was under the impression that he did not understand "inside" and "outside", and perhaps he doesn't, but he knew it was one of those two words. Pretty interesting. Still, he is getting "afuera" pretty quickly. He trots outside like no problem. [..] > read more
"All-Positive Monday 15" - Dealing With Fireworks
Published on 2011-07-04 21:15:00
*sigh* It's that time of year again. While I love a good fireworks show as much as anyone, especially on the Fourth like today, it drives Wally mad. This is one of the few real major fears he's got left and every year, it just brings back too many me > read more
Day of Shaping Puzzles
Published on 2011-07-01 21:16:00
Today, we tried a little something different with shaping. Well, it's not shaping, per se, but more a test of how much he remembers from tasks we've gone through via shaping - and maybe a little shaping type responses from me (i.e. no direct commands > read more
Push, Push, Push!
Published on 2011-06-29 18:43:00
Today, I wanted to take the ball pushing to another level and put a goal to it. This would be doing the behavior like a job and something that has to be done to finish the job. The ball wasn't his soccer ball. I tried that, but it was much too small > read more
"All-Positive Monday 14", Paw Gaming
Published on 2011-06-27 18:06:00
In an effort to continue improving his eye-paw coordination, today we played a paw game. The game we played was where I had a treat in my hand and moved it around, saying "get it, get it" (note to self, look up a shorter word for 'get it' in Spanish > read more
Do Some Dogs Learn More With Shaping Than Others? If So, Why?
Published on 2011-06-24 21:12:00
I have pondered this question on occasion. As those who have followed this blog for a while may know, I'm in love with shaping. Part of this is from its use being the key to unlock the beginning of our relationship and part of it is the sheer succes > read more
Training In the Garden
Published on 2011-06-22 17:27:00
He knows boundaries in the house and when around on walks, but we never did it for the garden in the backyard. At first, I didn't worry about it. He's usually interested in sniffing the grass or listening to what's going on all around. Sometimes, he > read more
"All-Positive Monday: 13: Object Discrimination, Wally's Choices
Published on 2011-06-20 22:07:00
For this All-Positive Monday, I did some object discrimination, but this time, I let Wally make the choices. Really, I didn't do anything except just observe. What would Wally choose when allowed to interact with which ever object he wants. I put ou > read more
Blend of Object Immersion and Discrimination
Published on 2011-06-19 13:09:00
Not sure what "catchy" title to call this. It's not just object discrimination or object immersion, but today we did some of both, with also giving him his first all-Spanish "sentence": 'Donde está ____ ?' which sends him looking around for the obje > read more
Object Immersion 2 - Bone, Generalized Indoors
Published on 2011-06-17 11:47:00
Today, we continued the theme of immersion with the bone, making the object a part of whatever he and I do if at all possible. The next progression in this will be getting him used to this concept everywhere he is, not just in my room. First, w > read more
Object Immersion 1: The Bone
Published on 2011-06-15 16:29:00
In an effort to get the objects further into Wally's head, I'm going to try making the object a focus of any games or training we do. The games aren't anything fancy. This afternoon, I just moved the bone around on the floor and while he was trying > read more
"All-Positive Monday 12" - Letting Wally's Creativity Run Wild
Published on 2011-06-13 23:01:00
Today for the 12th All-Positive Monday, I brought Wally to an open area and just let him do anything he wanted to get a click and treat. I hesitate to call it any form of shaping because it wasn't towards a final behavior or chain. It was more like " > read more
Wally's New Ball
Published on 2011-06-12 21:36:00
Today, I was out and about, but before coming in, I stopped by Petco to see if there was anything I could get for Wally. It was on my way after all so I figured, "why not?" New ball vs soccer ball. At first, I didn't think I would find anything o > read more
Some Physical Activity Today
Published on 2011-06-10 20:41:00
Today, I worked mostly on physical sort of things. Can't forget about his body, especially since I'm not taking him walking as much because of the weather and time constraints. Of course, we did all this stuff indoors. It's way too hot to be outside > read more
Shaping Games To Keep His Mind Sharp
Published on 2011-06-08 17:23:00
It's been one of those days where not much in the training department is going to get done. I was able to steal away about thirty minutes to do more than just walk Wally around and let him do his business. Thank goodness he's very well house-trained. > read more
"All-Positive Monday" 12: Objects The Shaping Way
Published on 2011-06-06 15:50:00
As planned, Wally and I worked on the four objects again (circle, square, bone, and ball) but with a new approach. This time, I just let him pick an object to touch, and when he did, I would click and treat him. After he got going and understood wha > read more
Wally's Art Lesson 5: Introducing White and More Observations
Published on 2011-06-05 12:30:00
It's been a while since we worked on colors, and this time, I wanted to introduce another color. I picked white for a couple reasons. One, to test a theory about contrast, or perhaps the lack of, being an issue in the room. Two, to also see if it w > read more
Object Discrimination 4: Introducing Circle and Square Together
Published on 2011-06-03 21:32:00
Today, we worked on the circle and square together for the first time. There wasn't any "testing" of the concept yet, just getting him to start seeing a difference between the two and that they have their own names and that each name relates to just > read more
Focus Work. Focus, Wally! Focus!
Published on 2011-06-01 22:56:00
One area Wally certainly needs more work in is in focusing on what he needs to do. So often, he gets distracted because he's so...curious (read: nosy) about what's going on around him. It is even worse if it's a dog or person as he's paying so much a > read more
"All-Positive Monday 11" - Introduction To The Square, Memorial Day Dinner
Published on 2011-05-30 20:20:00
Training today was cut short/interrupted by Memorial Day stuff and whatnot, but we did get some time in to introduce the square (cuadrado) - with the square being a white square pillow. At first, he had a few problems figuring things out, probably b > read more
Re-Training Stand
Published on 2011-05-28 22:52:00
Stand has always been one of those things that's given him trouble to get exact. He'll stand up, but then he'll continue to come towards me, or proceed to sit back down once I mark and reward him. Standing from a sit also gives him problems for some > read more
Happy Birthday, Wally! ¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Wally!
Published on 2011-05-27 15:33:00
Wally barking as I tell him happy birthday. Happy Birthday, Wally! Today is Wally's 4th Birthday! We didn't do any training or anything so far today, and probably won't so it can be an easy, fun day for him. I also wi > read more
Grooming "Lesson" Cut Short By Broken Comb
Published on 2011-05-25 22:49:00
Wally still has a few fears left, and one of them is getting combed. I've been trying to help him feel more comfortable during being groomed (since he has no behavior problem with being groomed, either for me or when I take him in, but he seems so sc > read more
"All-Positive Monday 10" - Introduction To The Circle, Practicing the Mat
Published on 2011-05-23 21:37:00
Today on the 10th "All-Positive Monday" (can't believe it's that many), I introduced Wally to the first of the two shapes I'll best seeing if he can identify down the road and we also worked on going to a "mat" (really, a rectangular towel on the flo > read more
A Lazy Sunday: Day Off For Wally
Published on 2011-05-22 22:25:00
Everyone needs a day off. I think that includes dogs. Today, we didn't do any training at all. Just a day of leisurely walking and he could just go around and sniff and walk ahead (to a point) and just investigate things. We also played a bit, just > read more
Colors vs Objects: One Harder Than The Other?
Published on 2011-05-20 22:29:00
We just finished another attempt at color discrimination, using the cones this time, and we seem to be making pretty slow progress. Sometimes, it looks like he's getting the idea, but other times, he's still clearly in guessing mode, even when factor > read more
Object Discrimination 3: The Ball, The Bone, And A Small Change I Made.
Published on 2011-05-19 00:10:00
El hueso - the bone, object #3 After some time away, we're back to the object discrimination. Sometimes, it's good to have him take some time off from a skill or behavior and then come back to it. He can struggle with something, but even though we > read more
Wally's Spanish "Vocabulary" Grows: ¿Dónde está? (Where is it?)
Published on 2011-05-17 23:57:00
Yet another cue fell under the influence of the improved learning when switching to a Spanish word (or in this case, a short sentence). Well, perhaps, not so much "improved" but he certain took to it immediately, and I'm wondering why. The cue this > read more
"All-Positive Monday" 9: Fronts, Go-Arounds, And...Scary Food Bowl?!
Published on 2011-05-16 23:11:00
The ninth "All-Positive Monday" happened, and for the most part it was another success, but there was some..."quirks" in it today. Read on. Fun With Fronts With Finishes Thrown In This was something of a game. I would move away from him and entic > read more
Wally vs Me: Day 3 - Vámanos/Pare
Published on 2011-05-15 23:12:00
First, no scorecard picture as my camera's battery ran out so I can't get the picture. Sorry about that. However, I can report that Wally surprised me with his performance as I thought this would be quite the challenge for him, but instead, he moppe > read more
Re-Training Front and Finish
Published on 2011-05-15 00:44:00
We took a break from the games to work on sitting in front and finish positions. Wally's drifted out of position for these, and it's hard to understand where he got the idea from, but whatever the case, he needs to be refreshed in these positions. He > read more
Wally vs Me: Day 2 - Arriba/Abajo
Published on 2011-05-14 00:02:00
Freaking blogger...ugh. Extended downtime really stinks. Just totally. It stinks almost as bad Wally's poop when he's sick. Almost. Anyway, things didn't go so well this time around: Not nearly the same success as Day 1 As you can see, Wally s > read more
Wally vs Me: Day 1 - Abres/Cierras
Published on 2011-05-11 22:58:00
As planned, we could get the first of these "competitions" in and we did it as the schedule said with opening and closing doors - Abres and Cierras. Here's the scorecard: Wally wins the first event 29-9 Wally pretty much beat the challenge prett > read more
New Game Idea: Wally vs Me or Competitive Training
Published on 2011-05-10 23:15:00
I just got this idea in my head and have started to flesh out how I'd go about it and what the competition would be like. But first, I'll explain what I mean. Competitive Training? "Competitive Training" is what I call it because Wally and I will b > read more
"All-Positive Monday 8" - Serving Up A Main Course Of Stop And Go With A Sprinkling Of Objects
Published on 2011-05-09 23:53:00
We devoted much of today towards drilling "pare" in his head - meaning "stop". And we went about it taking one step at a time. While at the same time, "vámonos" (let's go) was formally worked on as the "let's move" cue. I figured this would be good > read more
Don't Be Afraid To Change The Cue: Biggest Lesson Learned in the "Spanish Experiment"
Published on 2011-05-08 23:04:00
A cue is simply the signal the dog will key on to trigger a behavior. I say signal instead of sound or word because dogs pick up cues from their whole environment. A scent on the ground, a bird in the field, a piece of ham hitting the floor, all thes > read more
From "Housework Dog" to "Treat Finder" and A Couple New Spanish Words
Published on 2011-05-08 00:38:00
Whew, a multi-faceted day for Wally on this Saturday! The Housework Dog Or, at least my assistant of sorts. He got a lot of practice with opening and closing the doors today as I had lots of things to carry around and stuff to do all over the hou > read more
A Day of Spanish Cues: A Mini-Test and More Work On Stay
Published on 2011-05-06 23:47:00
Just to mix things up a bit, I decided to give a little "test" to Wally on the Spanish cues we've been working with for quite some time now and it looks like he has an understanding of them. This was not only a test of giving the right behavior in re > read more
From Learning the Ball To First Spanish Struggle
Published on 2011-05-05 21:56:00
Today was a mixed bag day. First, we got the chance to introduce the ball. Then after that, we worked on converting another cue to a Spanish word, which for the first time might be something of a struggle. Yeah, Same Thing As Pushing, Wally. > read more
Object Discrimination 2: Learning the Rabbit
Published on 2011-05-05 01:05:00
El conejo, the first object Just like with the starting off with the colors, the first thing we need to do is work on him learning what the rabbit is in terms of the cue for it. I want to start with one object at a time at first to help him start > read more
Object Discrimination 1: Rabbit vs Ball
Published on 2011-05-03 21:39:00
I figure it's time to start doing some "real" object discrimination again. I've done it some time back, and then tried it here or there, but probably going too fast or not using things he can really see. They last time I really did this semi-formally > read more
"All-Positive Monday" VIII: Work That Rear, Wally!
Published on 2011-05-02 21:43:00
We had a lot of fun doing the as-planned rear-end awareness and some work on catching/eye-paw coordination games. Most of the time was used on the rear-end awareness as it's slower paced and more challenging for him at the same time. At first, we w > read more
"All-Positive Monday" VIII Plans
Published on 2011-05-01 10:43:00
Tomorrow will be the 8th All-Positive Monday and the plans I have for this one is to work more on his rear-end awareness and eye/mouth/paw coordination. For the rear-end awareness, I will work more on backing up and movement while standing on just > read more
Grooming Day: A Pampered Wally
Published on 2011-04-29 21:12:00
Pretty much a light, fluffy day for Wally. We really didn't do much of anything today, just let him sniff around and get loved up on by his "friends" the little girls that like him so much - and outside of that, just a lot of walks and enjoying the n > read more
Storms, Ball Pushing and Training Schedules
Published on 2011-04-27 23:05:00
With the storm threatening to hail and rain and tornado us at any moment, our training was confined to the indoors, and of course, I had to deal with a wet Wally when we had to go out for him to do his business. Let me tell you, it's great he doesn't > read more
Wally's Art Lesson 4: From Yellow Card to Yellow Cone - Stretching Out "Amarillo"
Published on 2011-04-26 23:04:00
I decided to try something. I have 13 cones, 12 blue ones, 1 yellow one. So I wanted to see if Wally could find the yellow cone. However, this will probably be down the road, at least for all twelve of them. First, I wanted to show him that yellow > read more
"All-Positive Monday" VII: Left, Right, Back, Up, Down
Published on 2011-04-26 00:01:00
As planned, Wally and I worked on directions and I could see that he's gotten rusty with it, but he did still remember a decent amount of it. I didn't play any variation of "Rapid Cues" with it after seeing that he's not quite as sharp as before, b > read more
Plans for "All-Positive Monday VII" - Using an Old Madden Mini-Game as Inspiration
Published on 2011-04-25 00:18:00
What is this madness? A double post?! I promise it won't happen often (unless you all like it?) but I wanted to mention plans for the 7th "All-Positive Monday". Sometime in the '90s, I played a version of Madden NFL for the Super Nintendo. Played it > read more
You Know, That Walking Beside Me For The Last Three Years? It's Called...
Published on 2011-04-25 00:08:00
Yes, I just now made any kind of effort to teach the actual cue "Heel" (and, no, I don't know a good Spanish word for it, yet!). You read that correctly. No, this doesn't mean I don't require Wally to walk at heel position. I just never made any sor > read more
A Jumping Good Time
Published on 2011-04-24 00:01:00
Today, Wally spent the day jumping around. For some reason, Wally was really frisky and energetic right from the start. I guess he got a really good night of sleep or something. So after the obligatory morning "play ritual" (and it's funny how when I > read more
Retrieve: Multi-Object Mode
Published on 2011-04-23 00:51:00
We haven't done this quite yet, at least not "formally", but I'm thinking of taking retrieving up a notch. Or at least take it along a different path of sorts. We've worked on directions and used retrieving to help teach him that (something ELSE we n > read more
Go-Arounds Revisited - "Station to Station Game"
Published on 2011-04-21 23:58:00
We worked on go-around again, where Wally has to go-around an object I point out and then come back to front position. We worked on this before with some...interesting results and I thought of something of a game to maybe spice it up a bit and teach > read more
You Done Brushing My Teeth Already? Come On, A Little More?
Published on 2011-04-21 01:33:00
Just got a new toothbrush and toothpaste for Wally as he really didn't care for the last one (and it really didn't seem to be all that good anyway). I had ordered it some days back and it arrived today. I was expecting to fight with Wally as he usual > read more
Excitement Training and More Spanish
Published on 2011-04-19 22:33:00
Earlier today, we did some more work on following cues while wound up and super excited. We had started working on this earlier and today we did more with it. It's easy to get him excited, and adding to it was some more kids running around. While he > read more
"All-Positive Monday" VI: Go, Pick Up, And Carry
Published on 2011-04-18 23:04:00
Some of the things Wally picked up today. Not pictured is a credit card and a roll of tape. Only usual one is his dumbbell. As planned, Wally and I worked on picking up and carrying various items that he normally doesn't get to interact with. He di > read more
Wally's Art Lesson 3: First Go At Color Discrimination
Published on 2011-04-17 22:33:00
Having introduced him to both colors for some days and then let him take a break from colors training, I felt it was as good a time as any to give him a run through with both colors and calling each color out randomly and he has to indicate the color > read more
Observing the Dog is Both Listening To Him and Learning About Him
Published on 2011-04-16 23:32:00
Since dogs do a lot of their communication with their bodies, it's almost like communicating with someone who 'talks' using sign language. Looking at them is then the equivalent to listening to them, because that is how you receive their signs to und > read more
Rough Grooming and Rougher Little Girls - Wally's Bad Day
Published on 2011-04-15 22:26:00
It's that time of year. The weather is warming up and the days are getting longer. This means that Wally is starting to change his coat to his summer coat... ...and makes it ten times harder to keep ahead of the mats! When they mention about ho > read more
Calming Signals: The Way Wally Would First "Talk" To Me
Published on 2011-04-14 23:46:00
One of the "advantages" to having a fearful dog is that you get to see a lot of what's called Calming Signals. These signals are often used when the dog is feeling overly anxious as a way to diffuse a situation or to try to maintain som > read more
Wally the Picky Picker-Upper
Published on 2011-04-13 22:56:00
Wally was carrying stuff nicely, so I was thinking of making that a job for him. He can be a "third hand" for me as well as his opening and closing doors that he does. Okay, so he carries the duster, can pick up and carry his toys to anothe > read more
Less Respect, More Motivation - A Paradigm Shift That Helped Me Help Wally
Published on 2011-04-12 19:11:00
When I first dove into dog training, I read a lot that told me about the importance of a dog's respect for you and that you should watch out for when a dog doesn't respect you. Well, being completely new, I started to analyze everything Wally > read more
"All-Positive Monday" V: Of Colors and Looking at Kids
Published on 2011-04-11 20:45:00
Today, we worked the colors a lot. The day started with working with yellow and doing some more of the usual show->call->he touches->mark and reward procedure and getting him "into the game" so to speak. But this time, I also int > read more
Girls Luv Wally, Practicing the "Mat", and thoughts on Shaping
Published on 2011-04-10 22:29:00
Today was rather eventful. I thought about multiple posts, but I don't want to spam anyone so it gets all stuck together (let me know if you would have rather it been multiple posts, I can go either way). First event happened during one of our walks. > read more
Wally's Art Lesson 2: Amarillo means Yellow
Published on 2011-04-09 22:35:00
The weather was a bit better (at least it was dry) so we did go out for a long walk and do some retrieving. Then we did a little more training inside and had lunch. The highlight for today, though, was starting work on the second of his two c > read more
Give Me The Dumbbell Anyway: A Wet Wally Moves Fast.
Published on 2011-04-08 21:13:00
Well, as expected, rain rain rain. Rain. More rain. And chilly too - feels more like March than April. However, Wally was still eager for his outdoor training, which isn't entirely unexpected. And of course being wet, he's hyper. So I sucked it up a > read more
Review of Basic Training: Wally Goes Back to the Basics
Published on 2011-04-07 22:44:00
Having learned my lesson from before, I revisited our earlier/basic training today. I didn't want to lose behaviors again like before so we worked on formal retrieving a lot outside (and will do some more before bedtime) and a lot of drops, some begi > read more
Getting More Excitement Out Of Him
Published on 2011-04-07 00:51:00
Since I'm endeavoring to improve his responsiveness and awareness while wound up, I want to be able to get him hyped up and keep it going and going and going until he's pretty much as wound up as he's going to possibly be. Of course, running around a > read more
Training Wally To Stay Focused While Excited
Published on 2011-04-05 21:45:00
One thing we haven't worked on in a long while is Wally staying aware of my instructions even though he's super wound up and excited. It's been a LONG time since we've had some good running and chasing and that probably was part of why I ended up get > read more
"All-Positive Monday" IV
Published on 2011-04-04 21:44:00
The fourth "All-Positive Monday" included the color training as planned. We did some more reviewing mentioned in this post with a little more added challenge in that I bypassed the showing him the color. I just went straight to putting the flashcard > read more
Around and Around He Goes...Eventually
Published on 2011-04-03 20:16:00
Gave him a break on the colors today. I'll likely use part of tomorrow's "All-Positive Monday" to do that, since at this point it's definitely no point to correcting him or setting up a problem with color so hard that he could even get it wrong. Tod > read more
Wally's Art Lesson 1: Azul means Blue
Published on 2011-04-02 21:34:00
Wally's color training began today and we worked on blue. At this point, the main focus is trying to teach him the name of the color and how to indicate the color. Of course, I'm using "Azul" which is blue in Spanish. The process is pretty simple at > read more
When In Doubt, Use a Foreign Language?
Published on 2011-04-01 21:20:00
This may well be just placebo effect, the idea that something is having an impact when it really isn't, but it seems that ever since I used "abres" and "cierras" for opening and closing doors, it just clicked with him. Perhaps it's just because the > read more
Marker Wars: 3 Clickers and My Voice Compete For Wally's Mind
Published on 2011-03-31 21:53:00
Ah, markers. Something so useful to dog training. Quick definition, a "marker" is a stimulus (i.e. an event) that indicates that the dog will get a reward (or punishment). The biggest strength and convenience to markers is that the dog's mind will re > read more
There's a Monster Under the Table! Oh...It Was Just a Pillow
Published on 2011-03-30 23:12:00
No training today. Wally had the day off from my craziness so we just hung around when going outside, letting him sniff around "be a dog" as they say (what else is he going to be? Some of these expressions make no sense to me!) and just lay around th > read more
Rear-End Awareness Tuesday
Published on 2011-03-29 21:07:00
No, I'm not sure if this is going to be "Tuesday's Theme" but that's what we worked on today, getting him to use those back legs to move himself around or position himself. To do this, I did a lot of working on him to "back up", getting him to walk > read more
Wally's Color Flashcards and "All-Positive Monday" III Results
Published on 2011-03-28 21:35:00
Yellow vs Blue - Wally's first two colors One of the things we did for "All-Positive Monday" III is the start of color recognition. Started with the blue one because that was the first one he touched. (Hey, let the dog decide! Why not?) Every time > read more
"All-Positive Monday" III
Published on 2011-03-28 12:21:00
Monday #3 of "All-Positive Monday" and this time it will be different. I will leave "hints" around at things he can do to earn rewards. For example, one room might have one of his toys he likes to pick up, so he can go pick it up if he wants, or poke > read more
I Asked For It By Not Asking For It: A Dog's Skills Get Rusty Too
Published on 2011-03-26 15:56:00
Yesterday, I got the bright idea to ask for his formal retrieves again. Well, what showed up was the fact he hadn't done it in so long that he lost the position for bringing it back. While trying to... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my web > read more
English For Dogs or "Canine Programming Language"?
Published on 2011-03-24 12:48:00
Yes, I understand that dogs don't understand meaning in the sense humans do. The good old example of "You could say 'lollipop' (or insert other random word) and have the dog sit, because dogs don't... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my webs > read more
Gameday Tuesday
Published on 2011-03-23 12:19:00
Yesterday, we played a lot of games all day long. A large majority of the interactions we had was through games and it was a lot of fun for us both. I love using games as training and I feel they can... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my we > read more
"All-Positive Monday II" Results
Published on 2011-03-21 23:11:00
Once again, no major changes in Wally's demeanor or behavior from the "All-Positive" day, so it must not be that major of a change for him. That's good. :) I did notice one interesting thing: I... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my websi > read more
"All-Positive Monday" II
Published on 2011-03-21 13:24:00
Is it Monday yet? It's Monday again, so time for another attempt at an "all-positive" day. Like last Monday, Wally will get a reward and/or praise for everything he does, barring any safety,etc... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website > read more
What Is Your Canine's Payscale?
Published on 2011-03-19 14:42:00
Keeping up with the jobs theme I guess, I was thinking more about how I "pay" Wally for jobs and tasks well done, or for doing well during training. It's pretty simple here, everything he gets is something he considers to be "high value". In other w > read more
Job Creation For Wally
Published on 2011-03-17 13:32:00
Cotons aren't noted for having "jobs" like a working or sporting breed, but I try to come up with things Wally can do for me as "jobs" that he is physically able to do and uses the behaviors he's already learned. So, like with a human job, I try to c > read more
Dog's Emotion: A Blessing For Wally and I
Published on 2011-03-15 23:24:00
I used to look at Wally's highly emotional nature and how strongly he feels emotions as a curse. Of course, part of this was because of his fear issues he had back then. Everything would trigger such a strong avoidance and fear from him and it would > read more
"All-Positive Monday" Results
Published on 2011-03-15 01:16:00
Wally getting into a training session Well, the day of truly all-positive feedback (basically everything he did got him something he wants, be it food, a game, whatever) went well. I don't think Wally has any complaints, and I don't either, though I > read more
No Punishment Monday - Attempting a Truly "All-Positive" Day
Published on 2011-03-13 21:08:00
Whenever I hear "purely positive" training, I always cringe because I know there's going to be some negative punishment. The fact you don't give the dog a reward if he thinks his action will earn him one is negative punishment. That's just the way it > read more
Muscle Dog in the Making?
Published on 2011-03-08 01:54:00
Every once in a while, I weigh Wally to make sure his weight is at the right level. Well, today, I noticed his weight had climbed up 3 lbs. Now, I know his legs are getting stronger. I was feeling them a couple days ago and could tell they are getti > read more
Punch That Ball, Wally!
Published on 2011-03-04 17:53:00
We're continuing to explore the basics of treibball - a dog sport oriented around "herding" balls towards a goal area. The dog can only move the balls by poking with his nose. At first, the "NOSE ONLY!" rule was hard for him to grasp. It took him so > read more
Hodgepodge of Training
Published on 2011-02-27 01:08:00
Wally's had to endure a wide variety of training recently. The most interesting is the introduction of Treibball, a dog sport I was recently made aware of. We're just getting the foundation going of course, and the first thing was getting him to push > read more
Heel, Turn, Focus. Heel, Turn, Focus...
Published on 2011-02-19 01:02:00
Tonight, it was working on heeling and turning as that's something he's struggled with lately (and in general). It's also a way to get the directions in during practical usage. I'd call out the turn and then do it while having him walking at a norma > read more