As promised. Fajsty and margot before he made margot brown. .
2008-02-29
11 days...
11 days since last post..
Thats a long time, I have been quite busy with school so I'm afraid there hasn't been too much doggie-training going on.
We had a class in vallås last Sunday and he behaved slightly schizo, sometimes completely nutty and sometimes an angel.
The angelic moments:
I said Fot, and he walked by my side even though all he really wanted was to run around ... He walked there until I said Varsågod.
We were practicing Stay, I had him lie down, said wait (which is my word for stay) and then rushed off myself. And he stayed. I am sure that if I had rushed behind something he'd come too... but its progress none the less.
I haven't even had time to brush him as often as I would have liked. the goal is a short one every day and a longer one every 3rd or so.
I am thinking about calling a dog hotel and have him stay there for a couple of days, both for him to get used to it and for me to get my life and studies sorted a bit.
But it costs from 150:- per night... for more than one night it is 100:- per night, so for example 3 days will be 300:- But they say they do not take puppies, so I guess that particular one is out...
I have to think some more about that....
Just spent an hour browsing them....
Long doggiewalk planned at 13:00.. May send a picture from there if I get a good one.
Thats a long time, I have been quite busy with school so I'm afraid there hasn't been too much doggie-training going on.
We had a class in vallås last Sunday and he behaved slightly schizo, sometimes completely nutty and sometimes an angel.
The angelic moments:
I said Fot, and he walked by my side even though all he really wanted was to run around ... He walked there until I said Varsågod.
We were practicing Stay, I had him lie down, said wait (which is my word for stay) and then rushed off myself. And he stayed. I am sure that if I had rushed behind something he'd come too... but its progress none the less.
I haven't even had time to brush him as often as I would have liked. the goal is a short one every day and a longer one every 3rd or so.
I am thinking about calling a dog hotel and have him stay there for a couple of days, both for him to get used to it and for me to get my life and studies sorted a bit.
But it costs from 150:- per night... for more than one night it is 100:- per night, so for example 3 days will be 300:- But they say they do not take puppies, so I guess that particular one is out...
I have to think some more about that....
Just spent an hour browsing them....
Long doggiewalk planned at 13:00.. May send a picture from there if I get a good one.
2008-02-18
2008-02-17
2008-02-14
Local forest
On the edge of our block there is a tiny bit of forest. Just by the field. We sat there today enjoying the warm sun. It was a nice moment.
2008-02-13
A lot
It's been a while since a decent post because I have been really busy....
So here's what happened:
Indecisive leader
Have the dog with you without command, walk 2-3 steps forward, 2-3 to the side, 2-3 backwards and keep doing that in a random order. If the dog follows, click and praise. Also vary the speed, snailpace, running, normal, slowly etc...
If doggie has trouble keeping up, just take one or two steps forward, click and praise (if it follows).
Sit and stay with "Here" every 3rd time
Say sit and stay, walk 1 meter away, every 3rd time: say "here" (Hit)and click as soon as the dogs moving towards you and reward when it has arrived, the other times you just walk back and praise when you have arrived back.
Stop
Walk with the dog normally, say "stop" and break softly with the lead if needed. When the dog is standing still with all 4 legs, count to 3 and then click/praise Repeat..
Walk nicely/Heel
Train this on your daily walks, but not always on the same place! Vary amount of steps before reward and never go so far that the dog makes a mistake, then you've gone too fast forwards. Click/Praise as long as the dog goes on the right spot by your side.
Okay... when I first read that I thought, we'll never be able to do all that in one week. But the "heel" (Fot) command works quite well, in any situation I have tried so far (not too many) I can say Fot and he joins up by my side looking expectant. It's pretty cool..
He doesn't stay there for too long unless I talk alot with him, but thats a good exercise for me too.
Next class will be focused on fetching. Must remember to bring something fetchable...
Thing that happened yesterday was that he ran off on a wild crow chase on the beach.... Normally he chases them for a few minutes and then comes back to me, but that time he didn't give a crap about me, was too busy chasing birds,.. he ran so far he was only a dot on the horizon. Then I was happy I was alone at the beach so nobody else could see it.....
I caught up with him after some running, and when he needed to pee I called him. he came trotting as if nothing was wrong. We walked straight to the car and home and into the shower after that.
The stupid rows didn't help though, he'd chase one up and it'd move like 4 meters so he could chase it again. Normal birds fly away!
Next time we go (in a long time I think) he'll be on the rope and I'll have good gloves on (so the rope doesn't burn my hands) . .
So here's what happened:
- Sunday = perfect dog after 11:00,
- Monday = Nutty,
- Tusday = more nutty in the morning, excellent in the afternoon,
- Today= So far so good. well behaved, listens to commands and follow them.
Indecisive leader
Have the dog with you without command, walk 2-3 steps forward, 2-3 to the side, 2-3 backwards and keep doing that in a random order. If the dog follows, click and praise. Also vary the speed, snailpace, running, normal, slowly etc...
If doggie has trouble keeping up, just take one or two steps forward, click and praise (if it follows).
Sit and stay with "Here" every 3rd time
Say sit and stay, walk 1 meter away, every 3rd time: say "here" (Hit)and click as soon as the dogs moving towards you and reward when it has arrived, the other times you just walk back and praise when you have arrived back.
Stop
Walk with the dog normally, say "stop" and break softly with the lead if needed. When the dog is standing still with all 4 legs, count to 3 and then click/praise Repeat..
Walk nicely/Heel
Train this on your daily walks, but not always on the same place! Vary amount of steps before reward and never go so far that the dog makes a mistake, then you've gone too fast forwards. Click/Praise as long as the dog goes on the right spot by your side.
Okay... when I first read that I thought, we'll never be able to do all that in one week. But the "heel" (Fot) command works quite well, in any situation I have tried so far (not too many) I can say Fot and he joins up by my side looking expectant. It's pretty cool..
He doesn't stay there for too long unless I talk alot with him, but thats a good exercise for me too.
Next class will be focused on fetching. Must remember to bring something fetchable...
Thing that happened yesterday was that he ran off on a wild crow chase on the beach.... Normally he chases them for a few minutes and then comes back to me, but that time he didn't give a crap about me, was too busy chasing birds,.. he ran so far he was only a dot on the horizon. Then I was happy I was alone at the beach so nobody else could see it.....
I caught up with him after some running, and when he needed to pee I called him. he came trotting as if nothing was wrong. We walked straight to the car and home and into the shower after that.
The stupid rows didn't help though, he'd chase one up and it'd move like 4 meters so he could chase it again. Normal birds fly away!
Next time we go (in a long time I think) he'll be on the rope and I'll have good gloves on (so the rope doesn't burn my hands) . .
2008-02-11
Tent?
It seems like pup has discovered a liking for lying under stuff. maybe he thinks we stay up too long. It's almost ten and time for the evening pee walk. I gave up on training today. He was too nutty. We will go to the beach tomorrow and i will try to train some things there.
2008-02-07
Summer?
Had it not been so very cold in the air and even colder in the shadow i'd argue that the summer is coming.
2008-02-05
Grooming
Now is the time for fur care as he's loosing quite a lot. Maybe it's the puppy fur or he, as the hedges and flowers, thinks it's spring. It can't be spring because it hasn't been winter yet?!
2008-02-03
First class of group Training
We walked down to the city, because it wasn't so far and we were awake in good time (F woke me up 17 minutes past 9, 13 minutes before my alarm would go off. I somehow thought I was late so I shot up and got ready in a flash.
Trainer felt sorry for us for walking so she drove us home.
I told her though that we walked because we wanted to, not because we had to.
(click the link to see a picture resembling the dog in question)
Only five (perhaps six) people in the class. I'd say F-dog is second best at what we did today. There is one black furball (Saga) who barks insanely for periods, and then is quiet for (thankfully) longer periods. Sometimes it could walk really nicely next to a dog and other times it couldn't be near anybody before it started... Interesting but probably annoying when one has a headache.
Then there is a Rhodesian Ridgeback (Billy) who is a puppy like Fajsty and has about the same traits only F seem to listen to a few commands a little bit better. I think its one of the biggest dogs Fajsty has ever met. (he's seen Great Danes but never really said hi to them).
There is a "dvärgschnauzer" (dont know what that is in english) called Siri who is the one that is slightly better than Fajsty at most of the things we did today.
Also a Danish Swedish Farmdog, I think its name was Laban but I'm not sure. It looks sort of like the dog on the picture but it has only white feet and tail, most of the dog is brown.
So all in all its a good bunch, all female owners, mostly male dogs (well, 3 of 5)...
We trained things like Sit wait, Come here, lie and wait, walk nicely and some more things I cant remember. F was Really excellent in all but go here (there were too many interesting sticks around) I think he was getting very tired by then too.
Trainer felt sorry for us for walking so she drove us home.
I told her though that we walked because we wanted to, not because we had to.
(click the link to see a picture resembling the dog in question)
Only five (perhaps six) people in the class. I'd say F-dog is second best at what we did today. There is one black furball (Saga) who barks insanely for periods, and then is quiet for (thankfully) longer periods. Sometimes it could walk really nicely next to a dog and other times it couldn't be near anybody before it started... Interesting but probably annoying when one has a headache.
Then there is a Rhodesian Ridgeback (Billy) who is a puppy like Fajsty and has about the same traits only F seem to listen to a few commands a little bit better. I think its one of the biggest dogs Fajsty has ever met. (he's seen Great Danes but never really said hi to them).
There is a "dvärgschnauzer" (dont know what that is in english) called Siri who is the one that is slightly better than Fajsty at most of the things we did today.
Also a Danish Swedish Farmdog, I think its name was Laban but I'm not sure. It looks sort of like the dog on the picture but it has only white feet and tail, most of the dog is brown.
So all in all its a good bunch, all female owners, mostly male dogs (well, 3 of 5)...
We trained things like Sit wait, Come here, lie and wait, walk nicely and some more things I cant remember. F was Really excellent in all but go here (there were too many interesting sticks around) I think he was getting very tired by then too.
Doggie Homework 1 and 2
Homework:
- Teach your dog what the clicker signal means.
Use:
10 minimalistic pieces of candy
Clicker
How:
Click = Candy in the mouth.
How often:
2 times (with 10 candy) for 3 days.
Day 4:
Click when the dog isn't watching, if he looks up and or comes, give a candy and you're finished teaching him what the clicker means.
- Sit and Stay with disturbances
How:
Sit the dog down, tell it to stay, then for example say hej, elvisp, oopsidaisies, tie your shoes, drop the candybag, drop the clicker etc. praise the dog a lot verbally when staying sitting in the more difficult situations.
- Stop when walking
How:
Walk with the dog on the lead, stop yourself and softly break with the lead at the same time as you say stop. Click/Reward when the dog is standing completely still.
- Walk nicely
.. Well we have been trying this one before with various results...
How:
Have your dog on the left side without command then say preferred command (heel, walk nicely, walk here) Only once and take a few steps forward, the slightest movement from the dog showing it is walking with you on your left side, rewards with click and candy.
If everything goes well wait with the reward until the dog has taken 2-3 steps in your desired direction with kept contact with you.
Important is to only make it more difficult once the dog masters the less difficult task completely.
- Teach your dog what the clicker signal means.
Use:
10 minimalistic pieces of candy
Clicker
How:
Click = Candy in the mouth.
How often:
2 times (with 10 candy) for 3 days.
Day 4:
Click when the dog isn't watching, if he looks up and or comes, give a candy and you're finished teaching him what the clicker means.
- Sit and Stay with disturbances
How:
Sit the dog down, tell it to stay, then for example say hej, elvisp, oopsidaisies, tie your shoes, drop the candybag, drop the clicker etc. praise the dog a lot verbally when staying sitting in the more difficult situations.
- Stop when walking
How:
Walk with the dog on the lead, stop yourself and softly break with the lead at the same time as you say stop. Click/Reward when the dog is standing completely still.
- Walk nicely
.. Well we have been trying this one before with various results...
How:
Have your dog on the left side without command then say preferred command (heel, walk nicely, walk here) Only once and take a few steps forward, the slightest movement from the dog showing it is walking with you on your left side, rewards with click and candy.
If everything goes well wait with the reward until the dog has taken 2-3 steps in your desired direction with kept contact with you.
Important is to only make it more difficult once the dog masters the less difficult task completely.
2008-02-01
Hiding.
I think he heard my thoughts about showering. But i meant that i would have one, not that he should have one.
On that note i'd like to add that i'm trying to cut down his showers to every 14 days instead of every week. Partly because good schampoo is expensive and partly because a too clean dog gets more matting (tovor) than a not so clean one. It seems to be working so far.
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