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February Trick Challenge: Paw Work


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Oh, my goodness, Bandit is getting GOOD at his paw touches!! He even did them at Rally FrEe class last night!

 

He has already met my goal for him for the month and I will need to figure out where I want to go next with it. Maybe paw touches to objects, or perhaps kicks.

 

I haven't worked as much with Tessa or Dean as I would have liked. Need to get on that. But what I am doing with them is fairly straightforward and both are doing well with it.

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I'm working on refining his paw targets and teaching sit pretty, which I need to get the pray thing. The sit pretty is coming along really well but it's not directly a paw thing so I haven't been updating on it. Paw targets are coming along well too, they just bore me. :lol: I'll post a progress video when I move on to teaching the actual trick.

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We have just started on front paw lifts, I am starting with the left only because that's where I put down the plant pot I am using as a target so far so good I am getting consistent high lifting of the leg so he can put his paw on the pot, soon I will start marking just for the lift and fade the pot.

Since we started the conditioning program he has become much more aware that he can move different body parts separately so the front leg lifts are going much quicker than I thought. He had decent rear end awareness before with agility but nothing like now.

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We've been working on paw targeting to work up to crossing his front paws. He's doing pretty well, but gets so overexcited when we're training. So it ends up being a little frantic looking. This is typical of him in most settings. I'll try and get a video later in case anyone has tips!

 

Definitely have this problem with Aed too. :lol: At the beginning of the month even his simple shake/paw-to-hand target looked more like him pouncing on me and happening to make contact in the right way. Consistently giving higher rewards to calmer actions though has paid off.

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Definitely have this problem with Aed too. :lol: At the beginning of the month even his simple shake/paw-to-hand target looked more like him pouncing on me and happening to make contact in the right way. Consistently giving higher rewards to calmer actions though has paid off.

 

We might need to try this. I'm concerned higher value treats may lead to higher reactions, whether or not I value them, but at least I'm not the only one with this issue!

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We might need to try this. I'm concerned higher value treats may lead to higher reactions, whether or not I value them, but at least I'm not the only one with this issue!

 

Hahaha. I think it's a pretty common issue with young border collies. I don't give higher value treats for calm actions, I just give more (separately but quickly, not in one big handful)

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Our Physio decided that it was time for us to learn standing on Paw pods, so rather than lifting the front legs we have been working on paw pod standing. Its not a flashy trick but it is related to paw work! he is determined to get both paws on one pod, reliably getting a paw on each pod will take a couple more days.

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I have been having occasional problems with 'busy dog' syndrome, where my guys frantically throw every behaviour to get a click. In particular, Rex has been having trouble putting two front paws on the pods, which should not be a very difficult task. He was frantically pawing the pods like he's a Hollywood trick horse, or perhaps a top-notch soccer player. Someone on Facebook posted this article on duration, and since I started clicking much faster and not waiting for a perfect effort, he has really picked up what I wanted. Really well-written article!

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Thanks for the link Airbear, must be the pods I have had them flung all over as well. I am trying to build duration with rear leg lifts and it is hard to capture duration, with something like the pods I have no problem, once he understands the goal, as it is a static position and he has an excellent stay, but balancing on three legs is a challenge, aggravated by the fact I don't use a clicker just a verbal marker. Anyone have any suggestions?

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Thanks for the link Airbear, must be the pods I have had them flung all over as well. I am trying to build duration with rear leg lifts and it is hard to capture duration, with something like the pods I have no problem, once he understands the goal, as it is a static position and he has an excellent stay, but balancing on three legs is a challenge, aggravated by the fact I don't use a clicker just a verbal marker. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

How did you originally teach the behavior? I've never taught the rear leg lift so I'm sure someone will have better insight, but off the top of my head here are some things I might try:

 

-Keep your hand right under his paw. Not holding the paw, but keeping your hand in the way as a reminder if he tries to put his foot down too early.

-If you didn't teach it this way, maybe try teaching it the same way they teach to lift both rear legs, like with stacking books underneath and having him put his paw up on them.

-Use a clicker? You've acknowledged that it might be part of the problem It doesn't have to be an actual device made for that purpose, just something with a quick sharp sound.

-Do the opposite, and don't mark an exact moment, just continue to praise and feed the entire time his foot is in the air in any way.

 

If you want to post a video it might help also.

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When I took Donna Hill's Targeting class, she had us teach the dog to back up onto something like a piece of foam. Then, once the dog was doing that (both rear feet), we switched to a small square and set it up so the dog would end up hitting it with just one back paw. Then we worked on that until the dog was consistently reaching back with that paw for the small square.

 

We didn't go further than that (I was using the exercise to try to teach Dean to back up straight to target with his weaker back paw), but you could then certainly substitute different objects, and certainly a pod.

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Thanks guys, he already has a great leg lift and on one leg can hold it up for a couple of seconds, and I do mean up! the other leg he is not as good with but we are working on it. What I need is for him to try and hold it up for a longer duration and that's the challenge, you can't reward in the same way as you can in a static hold such as a paw on a pod because he is trying to balance at the same time and I don't want to interfere with his natural movement, if he needs to put the leg down then I want him to be able. Hope that makes sense.

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Holy crap, that technique is awesome!!!! I'll be using that all the time!! Scoot has really been struggling with duration, this couldn't come at a better time.

 

Sorry I haven't been real active, I'm down in Texas for a big horse show until Sunday. I'll update with our progress when we get home!

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We've been lazy about paws because I got distracted by some other things (stay, an actual retrieve, and catching up on our nosework homework), but I'm loving all the tips and discussion. I'll pull my act together this week and see if we can get some progress on paw stuff.

 

The reverse luring reminds me of a technique we've used in our nosework classes. They call it red light/green light, or RLGL. In order to teach the dog to keep her nose where the odor is coming from, you start to come in with a treat but pause any time they leave the source at all. I could see how you could adapt it for duration in other behaviors too, though.

 

Kingfisher, wave in the general direction of Austin, and enjoy your visit to our lovely state. :)

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