Clicking Mad

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1. what do you feed? carrots, celery, pumpkin, banana, apples - depipped (sometimes other vegies including brocolli, other fruits including strawberries), garlic, ginger - all thrown into the juicer, then reunited (juice with pulp)and frozen for dinner time. I add yoghurt and supplements (apple cider vinegar, cods liver oil, silica, slippery elm powder, nettle tea, kelp, brewers yeast and psyllium husk - 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon) and vary every second/third day with an whole raw egg (shell and all) and tin of sardines. For 2nds they get raw chicken wings, or brisket bones, or marrow bones, or lamb flaps (rarely). Treats: cheese, devon, goodos (they love these although I don't really like giving to them), carob buds. Any other scraps I think would be alright for them :D 2. how often? every night 3. how much? 600 grams (or 6 heaped dessert spoons full) of vegie mix for 28 kilo dog; about 400 grams (or 4 heaped dessert spoons full) of vegies mix for 18 kilo dog. And about 6 chicken wings (for 28 kilo dog); about 4 chicken wings for 18 kilo dog. Bones really depends on their size. Maybe about 1/3 or a marrow bone for bigger dog? 4. what breed, age, sex and weight is your pet? 3 desexed dogs: 1. border collie x shepherd aged 7 1/2, male, weighs about 28 kilo; 2. kelpie x german shepherd, aged 7 years, female, weighs about 18 kilo; 3. dalmatian, aged 3 years, male, weighs about 28 kilo. 5. where do you purchase your ingredients from? vegies from grocer, supplements from health food store, bones delivered from Pet Food Fresh Meat Store. 6. have you always fed your dog this diet, or did you change over to it gradually? if yes, how did your dog react? not always fed, on and off, did not change over gradually. Fed supermarket dry food previously. 7. what have been the advantages and disadvantages? Advantages: the amount of poo I have to pick up is less and the consistency is much improved, and easier to dispose of; cheaper Disadvantages: time consumming (about 1 hour of juicing for 2 weeks worth of food). 8. have you seen changes in your dog, ie. coat, energy levels? All my dogs are greatly benefited by the barf diet, both in appearance - shinier coat, healthier eyes, stronger nails, cleaner teeth, better smelling breath - and temperament - a great deal calmer (not psycho stressed) and happier over all, but still with a high energy level and increased concentration (at least that's in my unscientific opinion).

I'm not sure if I've posted this somewhere before but it's more appropriate here... Texas' bow BTW: you don't have to have your dog in a bow/stay if you have a video camera ;)

I taught my Texas to do this via capturing. It is a behaviour that he did quite regularly so I had plenty of opportunity. I actually started early on calling it a "biiiiigggg ssstreeech" and gave him a big rub on his chest which he totally loved and almost everytime I went out the backyard to say hello he'd go into a bow and this initiated my chest rub - he was teaching me!!!!! as then it often led to a game of fetch, obviously another thing he wanted me to do. The hard part was putting it on cue. I initiated it by giving him a rub on his chest and he'd go into a bow and I'd click and give a bit of food. I did this for a while saying "big stretch" at the same time. A while later I stood in front of him and said "big stretch" and clicked when he bowed. This was going ok, and I was using quite a bit of body language (leaning in - as if I was going to give him a rub on his chest) so the change of cues to "bow" wasn't that hard, as he was definately paying more attention to the body language rather than the words I was using. But, then I tried to extend it out a little and accidently clicked as his butt hit the ground, and then "bow" turned into a really nice drop (his "down" is often sideways, with his hips rolled over on the left or right, but when he dropped from the "bow" he was square). It took quite a bit of remedial work to get the word "bow" to go back to meaning keep that butt off the ground. Even now when I ask for it and lean in too much, he will occassionally go all the way into a down. So, I agree with you Jules, it is not a quick or easy trick to teach. It's funny though, now the other two copy Texas and when I get home from work or if I'm going to say hi and do you want to play a game? they all go and do these bows at me. I have been put off by teaching the other two though. Maybe I'll spend some time in the next month trying it out. See if they get it quicker, or if I have learnt anything from my attempts with Texas hehehe Sam.

Yogi and Stella Great to see!! Beauty!! ;) Sam. ps: I saw the video too, very cool :D

I have finally found something that I can use as a "cone"... Just for the fun of it, I'll tell the short story: Was walking the dogs separately around the neighbourhood, almost along every street within a 5 block radius , and saw this cylindrical concrete slab (about 10 - 15cm wide and 20 - 30cm high) on one of the dogs routes two days in a row. It was just on the edge of the curb of a busy residential corner. The second day I decided if it was there the next day I'd take it home and use it for this trick. On the third day I took all three for a walk, it was still there, so I carried it the four and a half blocks home (it was quite a work out, carrying it like a baby, my arms are still a little sore). And bingo free training aid hehehehe. Anyway... Jamie already kinda knows the command "turn" (with her small amount of flyball action) so it was just a matter of introducing the new piece of equipment. I can get her to do it from about two meters away. Just need to increase the distance. The other two it was completely new but easy enough to lure them around by following my hand, nice and close. Only tried it once, since I only got it yesterday. Will post piccys and improvements (hopefully) in a few weeks. Sam. PS: Something that might help too is to know which way your dog prefers to turn. This is something they did at flyball. Throw the ball about 10 times and find out which way your dog turns before running back to you most often, if your dog isn't a retriever get it to run away from you and call it back, pay attention to which way it turns when it runs back to you. I forgot to do this with Texas and Chester. Jamie is "right" (like Moses in his piccies), it may be easier to go the direction the dog is most comfortable with. Bigbum? does Moses go around the cone in the same direction every time?

Natasha and workndog, Great to hear your progress reports. Sam.

and out the other side. :D

half way there..

Jamie jumping through my arms...

JUMP THROUGH ARMS HELD IN HOOP Uses Good party trick. Equipment Needed Dog that is 12 mths or over and is in a good physical condition to jump and able to fit through your arms, treats, clicker, some space to move. METHOD Step 1. Off lead. Go down in a crouch with arms held in a circle on the ground. Encourage dog to the other side of your arms. Step 2. Click/reward 5 to 10 times for walking through arms at ground level in the same direction. Step 3. Raise arms in circle an inch off the ground. Encourage dog to go through arms at this new height. Click/reward another 5 to 10 times at this new height in the same direction. Step 4. Repeat step 4 at slowly incremented heights off the ground. Taking it slowly and going back to lower heights if your dog is having trouble. Stay at each height for at least 5 click/rewards. Ensure dog has enough room to wind up to the jump and enough room after jump on the other side. Step 5. When dog is reliably jumping through arms when you hold them in a circle beside you at your desired height (taking into consideration your dogs' capabilities), add cue. Add cue at the time your dog is jumping and then click as it is out the other side, then reward. Say this at least 5 or 10 times. Then ask for "cue" before the behaviour. I use "atam" (up and atam) as it doesn't sound like and can't get confused with anything else I use - be creative :D. ADVANCED Introduce dog to the other direction - will most likely need to make it easier by reducing height for a while before getting up to the optimum height. Introduce dog to arms held in circle on the other side of you - again will most likely need to make it easier by reducing height for a while before getting up to optimum height. Jump through a hoop. Use the above method with a hoop. May be easier to start with this then move on to jumping through your arms, or if you have a dog that is too big for you. TROUBLE SHOOTING Dog won't go through arms on the ground? This can be done easier if you take away the dogs' head having to go through by putting your arms around dogs neck/shoulders in as wide a circle as your arms allow. This way your dog will be able to see the other side, where to head to. Could also set up in an area where dog can not walk around eg in a hallway. Or you could have someone else to help lure your dog through. Why only one direction to start? You want to build the behaviour using what your dog prefers and is most likely to succeed with, therefore let the dog decide what it prefers to do, that is, either going through your arms from behind you (through to your front) or from infront (through to your behind). When I taught my dog the beginnings of this trick (as a precursor), what I did was have my dog on it's grooming table (concrete slab at waist height) place my arms around her head when she was in a sit/wait so that she could see the other side and told her to "off" ie jump off the table which meant that she had to go through my arms to jump off the table. I think this was useful, in that it made the actual behaviour of going through my arms not as novel as it might have been. This was as far as I got before discovering the clicker. Pictures to follow - Jamie jumping through my arms in a series of photos. CM.

I'm still working on this. Have started each training day (not every day, maybe every third) with a really quick, maybe 2 minutes per dog, session of "close the door". Chester is definately progressing fastest, he gets the nose target over the paw target much more solidly than the other two. I opened the door a little more without any loss of performance too. I even managed to sneak in a cue this morning "close" with a nice jackpot. With Texas and Jamie I had rewarded too many times for a paw target early on. Those accidental (*after edit and reread of my prior entries* and deliberate) rewards take so much longer to extinguish than anything - like variable reinforcement Although I did have a good session today with Texas and Jamie, who both closed the door (opened a smidge) with their noses. To start Texas was putting his nose to the target but not hard enough to close the cupboard door which I verbally encouraged but didn't click, he gave up doing that pretty quickly and closed the door a couple of times with his paw which I didn't reward (yeh for me, I got something right for a change) then just kept clicking his nose targetting attempts, then a couple of times after that he pushed hard enough to close the door YEH!! jackpot. With Texas's session being first I learnt. So when I got Jamie I rewarded every nose target before she could think to lift her paw. I was surprised how quick she got it. Nose touch, click, reward... nose touch, click, reward... nose touch, click, reward... in quick succession. She wasn't pushing hard enough to close the door, but she got there after about 10 of those quick nose touch, click, rewards. Very happy big jackpot and let her go out and think about it for a bit... So I'm learning just as much as my dogs, and it was a terrific stress relief for me to be interacting with my dogs in such a challenging and rewarding way. That's my big happy achievement for the day Sam.

That is a very cool shot!! I wish I'd known about the cracker biscuit trick, or any floating object would have been good when I was trying to teach Chester that swimming involves his front paws being under the water and not trying to walk on it. Although Josh looks like he has learnt that trick I really don't have much of an opportunity to get to water much, so it is very difficult to get a good training schedule going. But I did take Chester on holiday (I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before) and I took him for a swim with me. I tried to teach him but had no idea how to exactly. I just kinda assumed that he would understand that he is a dog and he should be able to dog paddle. Well after a long exhausting walk to the river, I just encouraged him out with me. The first couple of times he just didn't reallly want to go beyond his depth, then, I found a spot where I could stand ok and he couldn't and tried supporting him while he splashed at the water with his front paws, and scratched up my legs with his back and we splashed around in a circle until I couldn't hold him anymore (it hurt me too much). Then I gave him a rest, and went for a swim away from him (maybe 30m). He didn't really like being left behind. So I came back, and then went for another swim away, and he whinged a little so I called him, not really expecting him to follow, I'd pretty much given up since it was still a long walk back to the cabin and he was looking pretty tired already. But he decided to follow and after about 5 or 10 meters he stopped splashing at the water and started swimming properly. I gave him lots and lots of verbal praise, I was pretty impressed. He was swimming just like a dog is supposed to. He caught up to where I was, did a full on u-turn in the water and beat me back to shore. He did stop about half way to see where I was and tried to hop up on me again, but quickly realised he'd be better off swimming back to land by himself. This was about 8 months ago (he was 2 years), so I'm almost positive I'll have to start again from scratch with his swimming. Jamie needs a little encouragement to swim too, she has never been too fond of going beyond her depth, but I've never tried to get her out. When I ever get the chance I'll know what to do - crackers or floating toy!!! Texas has always loved to swim so no problems there. Thanks for the tips. Sam.

What a beautiful good boy ;) Inspiration for sure. Update on the progress with my dogs and this trick: They are successfully nose targetting a plastic card on the end of a ruler, and we have progressed to moving the plastic card to the cupboard door where Chester pushed it close (it was only open a smidge) but I was so happy and I jackpotted him and haven't done that trick for a couple of days now. We'll see how they go tomorrow. Sam.

Excellent!!! Put a big smile on my face Great to see different dogs doing it. Josh and Moses come across as really calm. Nice circular motion from Josh. My Jamie girl sorta does that when I ask for a wave, it's like a "Hi, Hi, Hi" and her paw goes around and around and around. She's desperate. Whereas Tex gives it straight up in the air and Chester throws both his paws at me, his left higher than his right. Chloe is so cute. I've never had an opportunity to train a cat before, terrific!! Sam. PS: being mothers' day yesterday I went to visit my Ma, used their computer as you do and got some more photos downloaded. Here's Chester and his funny wave.

And only because I love this shot too. This is Texas's "wave". A little add-on move developed from the "shake".

Texas's turn, from a "down"

I wish I'd chopped a little more of myself out but anyway. Jamie the completed "shake" from the "down" position

Jamie in a series of 2 shots again, this time from a "down" position.

Jamie completed "shake"

This is Jamie in a series of 2 action shots

Chester shake from a "down" position - a more advanced move I have been working on, in anticipation of teaching them to "cross paws".

Time to post "shake" photos. Chester