Ninso Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 Do any of your dogs know "right" and left"? If so, could you explain the process for teaching those cues. I'm looking to teach directional cues because I'm planning on giving skijoring a try this winter, but the way the skijoring folks seem to teach directions is just by repetition, expecting the dog to pick up on the meaning of the cues. I highly doubt that will work with my dog, and I'm certain it would take far longer than just training the cues with a clicker or something. Any thoughts or tips? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 I've never done it. I'm so left/right imapired that I would be sure to send my dog in the wrong direction 50% of the time! But if I were going to teach directionals, this is where I would start: http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1169 Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragtimedog Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 Do any of your dogs know "right" and left"? If so, could you explain the process for teaching those cues. I'm looking to teach directional cues because I'm planning on giving skijoring a try this winter, but the way the skijoring folks seem to teach directions is just by repetition, expecting the dog to pick up on the meaning of the cues. I highly doubt that will work with my dog, and I'm certain it would take far longer than just training the cues with a clicker or something. Any thoughts or tips? Thanks! I've done it for sledding. I took my leaders out on a leash and heeled in a square giving the gee and haw command at every turn. Then you let the dog move out in front still on the leash. I also found that when they only have one option, if I still used the command, they would learn it. I didn't use a clicker at the time, but don't see why you couldn't adapt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragtimedog Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 You could do it on bike training too. Just stop and don't let them go if they took the wrong direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hey Jude Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 I'm starting to do canicross (the running version of skijor) with Jude. I, too, use gee(right) and haw(left) when heeling and when we are out running cue the way to go and because he can feel me turn he will swing out in front of me in the correct direction. Eventually he will catch on. I have seen people use to cones(or any item you have handy) and cue right to go to the cone on the right and left for the left using a clicker. Just make sure you mix things up so that the cues really mean right and left and not fireplace-side-of-the-living-room vs kitchen-side-of-the-room. Don't know if that would be quicker or not as you then have to transfer it to the situation of skijor. How exciting to be getting in to skijor. I'd love to hear how things go as winter progresses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nowwown Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 Hi, I taught Cody about a year ago when he became my running partner. Since he ran on my left, I wanted him to understand the left, right and straight commands so that I wouldn't run over him if I was making a left turn. We started with two inverted plastic cup, the right one with a treat under it, in front of him. Of course since I was opposite him I had to request "which is your RIGHT cup" when it was MY left cup. Is that confusing? Anyway, he would eventually paw or nose the right cup becuase there was a treat, and get the treat. Reward! We did that over and over again till he got the RIGHT cup consistently. Then we started with the LEFT cup (my right). After he mastered both, I would do either or, either or. Left, right, right, right, left randomly. He got it 80% of the time on the first try. Usually at that point without any treat under the cup. Then we started from scratch with STRAIGHT (added a third cup in the middle). This whole thing took about a week total to teach him. He's a fast and eager learner especially with treats! So once we started running together, I would tell him "to your LEFT" or "to your RIGHT" or "STRAIGHT" and reward him with a "good boy" since I couldnt' just stop and give him treats. He's been consistent when we walk, run, bicycle together. Plus it impresses the heck out of non-BC people! Great show-off trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tea Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 What I do with the sled dogs. Is hook up the young dog to a good leader and then they pick it up from the leader. If they can't pick it up then they run swing or wheel. And some can't. Out of all my dogs I've only had one absolute reliable gee haw leader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninso Posted October 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 Cool, thanks guys. Kristine and Nowwown, those suggestions are pretty similar to what I tried last night. Lok has a good understanding of targeting, so I took two upside down plastic cups, put them about 3 feet apart, put Lok in heel position with both of us facing them and then told him to go check out the cups. I figured I would click for whichever cup he chose to investigate. He picked the right-hand cup, so we worked on sending him to the right. He picked up on it right away, and stayed consistent when I changed the sides the cups were on and when I moved them closer together. But when I rotated them 90 degrees (and changed our position so we were still facing them at the same angle) it fell apart. I know I moved too fast. I'll go back to the beginning and build more slowly. I figure we will need to practice the "right" cue from lots of different positions until it's really solid, then add in the "left" cue. Thanks for the suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninso Posted October 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 What I do with the sled dogs. Is hook up the young dog to a good leader and then they pick it up from the leader. If they can't pick it up then they run swing or wheel. And some can't. I wish I had a pre-trained lead dog to hook him up to! LOL! Unfortunately, I have to train my lead from scratch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninso Posted October 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 How exciting to be getting in to skijor. I'd love to hear how things go as winter progresses. We'll see how it goes. I just bought a harness and a tow line, but I don't even own skis yet! There is a lot of ground work that needs to be done, too, and I think I'm trying to do too much at once--trying to teach an obedience retrieve and solidify his basic obedience (working on training to a competition level, but I don't know if we will compete), make the most of the disc-dogging weather we have left, and teach basic skijor commands. The "actual" skijoring might not happen until next year. My local skijor club is going to have a couple clinics this fall/winter though so we're at least going to check those out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tea Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 Yeah It is harder without a leader, If I don't have a leader. What I do is use a kick sled and go down the trail and when the trail goes right I say gee, then when it goes left I say Haw. A dog can pick it up that way to. Alot of these folks that have written to you are pretty smart! I'd try their suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiloh714 Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 Now, this has nothing to do with a dog going anywhere , but Shiloh knew her the difference between her left and right paw . All it took was A LOT of repetition and the same amount of cut-up hot dogs. she was really quite stubborn if I didn't have them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat W. Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 I use right and left for agility, with my youngster who seems to be equipped with hyperdrive, I taught it out of self defense. With Whim sitting at my side facing the same direction I would take a a treat and making sure he saw it have him turn his head to follow the treat while I repeated either right or left a couple of time while rewarding. I would repeat this from either side and while he was infront of me facing me. Once he was bending easily in either direction we progressed to a standing position asking for a complete turn in the correct direction again with lots of treats, Then movement was introduced and that is where we are right now. He has a pretty good idea of right and left Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airbear Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 ... my youngster who seems to be equipped with hyperdrive, I taught it out of self defense. LOL!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silhouettestable Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 When I started sledding I didn't have a leader so I had to make one. The easiest thing I found was having a trail packed in the snow with forks in it (several adjoining loops can be great for training, lots of opportunity for practicing the turns). Without a trail the dogs don't really know where you want them to go, but a trail makes it pretty obvious. A snowmobile works great to make a trail, or you can snowshoe around it a few times to make it wide enough. Before I got a snowmobile I used to snowshoe and drag a utility sled behind me with a bale of hay on it to pack my trail. When you come to a fork, you can either let the dog choose a trail and say "gee" or "haw" as he turns to try to get him to pick up on the commands, or you can say it just as you're approaching the fork and if he doesn't get it say it again firmly and point the direction you want (my dog would often look over his shoulder). If he got it I'd praise him and say "Yes! Haw! (or gee, depending on which way we were going). If however he still didn't get it I'd brake and tell him to whoa and then get off the sled and walk up beside him on whichever side I wanted him to turn towards, take him by the collar and pull him around onto the trail I wanted him to take, telling him to haw over or gee over. It didn't take very long for him to pick up what I was asking him to do and now he's a consistent gee/haw leader and I used him to train the rest of my dogs. Anytime he doesn't dive right into the turn I say but turns his head in the right direction I just reinforce it with "Yes, haw", or "yes, gee" and "good boy" when he takes it. Good luck, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun this winter. Something else I just remembered, I've heard of people training sides when harnessing. eg. "lift haw", "lift gee" or maybe "haw leg", "gee leg" as they lift up that leg to go through the harness. I've never done that myself, I just say lift but I've heard of it being done. p.s. on the idea of using a clicker - clickers can be great training tools, but for skijoring you'd really have to have your commands down ahead of time and not need the clicker because your hands will be busy with your ski poles. If you use one of the other methods that won't be an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 p.s. on the idea of using a clicker - clickers can be great training tools, but for skijoring you'd really have to have your commands down ahead of time and not need the clicker because your hands will be busy with your ski poles. If you use one of the other methods that won't be an issue. That would be the same regardless of what you are going to use it for. The clicker isn't something that you always have any time you ask your dog to do something that you use the clicker to train in the first place. Once the behavior is trained to fluency and the dog knows it, the clicker is no longer necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninso Posted October 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 p.s. on the idea of using a clicker - clickers can be great training tools, but for skijoring you'd really have to have your commands down ahead of time and not need the clicker because your hands will be busy with your ski poles. If you use one of the other methods that won't be an issue. Yeah, I know. The idea was to teach the commands ahead of time so when we get onto a trail he already has them down. If I was still using a clicker on the trail, I'd have to stop every time I clicked so I could go give him a treat. I do also use a "yes" marker word which would suffice on the trail and I assume that continuing the run is the reward. I'm just so far away from even getting to a trail at this point that I'm just trying to lay some foundation. I just feel like specifically training directional commands daily (using my normal training methods) will be a lot faster than hoping he will just make the association at some point, since I can't imagine we will be skiing daily and we don't go on walks regularly either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazyGRanch Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 p.s. on the idea of using a clicker - clickers can be great training tools, but for skijoring you'd really have to have your commands down ahead of time and not need the clicker because your hands will be busy with your ski poles. If you use one of the other methods that won't be an issue. If it were me (personally) using a clicker to train right and left, I wouldn't even introduce a towline OR skis until I had already taught right and left, with my dogs, that'd be asking for a bruised behind ;-) Just a note to avoid the mistake I did when I was teaching right and left...if you teach right and left with the dog FACING you, teach right and left with the dog facing AWAY from you too. I taught it with my dog facing ME and when I sent him out and tried to turn him, he turned and looked at me, then went the "correct" way while facing me, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudpups Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 Our front yard is Australian bush and tennis balls usually get lost in the undergrowth, so I taught Taj his left and right simply by throwing a treat on the ground to his left or right and saying (strangely enough) left or right and he caught on very quickly. I get confused if he is facing me, so I also taught him 'no, other left, and no other right for the times that I get confused;) Lucky he's a Border Collie who understand my human limitations and he now understands stop, turn around, other way, this way and use your nose. My neighbours think I am a great dog trainer, but they just don't know how smart my dog is:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicGirl Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 I take Magic horse back riding and hiking with me, in which she likes to lead. She responds well to hand signals. I will whistle just once which means to stop and look at me and then I will point and say " that a way" and she will change directions. If we come to a split in a trail and she takes the wrong one I just say "wrong way and she will back track and take the other trail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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