Mid January Training Plans

It's been almost 2 weeks since I posted on my current training plans for working with the dogs at home.  So here's the update.



1. Touch vs Whack- I updated earlier that Lance was the first to reach 100% in a training session!  Vito followed closely behind.  I've done a tiny bit of generalizing with Lance on a new object (round container of nuts on its side) and percentage went waayy down.  Lance thought the goal was the kick the container so it rolled along the floor.  I have not tried it yet with Vito.

2. Fronts and Finishes- Wow, it's amazing how quickly Lance is getting the correct concept of heel position on a finish.  His left finish is accurate 4 out of 5 times and I am making sure to reward him in the correct spot so he even scootches his butt back a bit if he's off.  His right finish is a bit slower to come around so I'm still rewarding less then accurate tries and using the placement of the treat after I click to get him to scootch back.

Vito isn't that much improved since the last update.  He still steps on my foot somewhere between 1-2 out of every 5 left finishes.  Vito is being very cautious now and his finish is much slower.  I am hoping that the speed and snazziness of it will return as he understand exactly what we're doing.  Vito's fronts are much improved as he rarely steps on my foot anymore.

3. Praying-  I really haven't done a lot of this trick recently.  When I have Lance is getting good at understanding that I want his butt to the floor.  Vito no longer needs me standing behind him to prevent him from standing but we are still working on the duration he will hold his head down between his paws.  Of course in Vito's style the trick is morphing into a trick in flexability as he likes to start it the farthest away from the couch he can be and still get his paws on it!

4. Various Tricks- Ok, not so much.  The only work I did was to get Lance understanding the foot signal for "cross" and he's doing a pretty good job of it.  Lance still defaults to his "pose" trick though if I don't act fast enough.  I didn't do much of this with Vito but did discover he can think more if I hold one hand lightly under his collar so he is less likey to shift his other paw when the first paw goes on top.  He's an odd cookie.

5.  Random Stays- Lance is still stressed but not nearly as much.  He also has only broken 1 stay in the very beginning of this experiment.  The good treats are still coming quite frequently.  Vito LOVES this game and always stays even when I only tell Lance to do so in hopes of getting some good stuff as well.

The new biweekly plans!:


1. Finishes- Continuing accuracy for Lance and not stepping on my feet for Vito.


2. Random Stays- try to do one out of context stay each day.

3. Go Outs- I think I'm going to change Lance's go out for obedience into a paw touch on the wall.  I have previously done a little with sending him to a target but after doing a ton of reading on the Ring Tested group list, the paw touch seems like the better choice.  I have already experimented with teaching Lance the "spread em" trick and have taught Lance to run to a wall, put both front feet on it, and stay while I pat him down.  But I stopped it when my instructor said it might be bad for Lance's corgi shoulders to slam into a wall.  So now my challenge will be to get Lance to calmly put one paw on the wall (a "whack it!") oh and do everything else associated with a proper go out :)

Vito will now be participating in this training too!


4. Tricks- When I have time the trick list will include touch vs whack, praying, limping, hugging a toy, and retrieving a hot dog.

Best friends!