# Watson's 2015 Training



## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

We've kind of dropped the ball on Watson's active training in the last few months. Once I got the basics down, we mostly worked on house manners and teaching him to not be a total jerk. No door dashing, no biting or nipping, no grabbing things out of my hand. Manners stuff. A very large portion of our training has been spent on LLW. And I think that has been going really well. He's my first dog, and I'm proud of how he's progressed. I'm just waiting in dread for him to turn teenager on me. 

But I really want to have goals for him. Attainable goals that we will work on every day. He's a very focused dog, and I really enjoy training with him, because he gets things so darn fast. So my goal right now is three tricks a month. It may go up, if we're finding things easy, and it may go down, if we're doing more complicated things. I didn't want to make the goal too difficult, because I don't want to feel the need to rush. But I feel like a goal like that will get me to train with him every day, even if it's just for a few minutes. I know things will start to teeter off when I run out of imaginative things to teach him. It'll probably be a mix of plain ol' luring tricks, some shaping and capturing, and some body awareness work. 

We're still going to stay consistent in manners work, and we need to work more on distraction training. It can be a little difficult in a small-ish city with not a lot of foot traffic. 

*This is what he knows at 6.5 months:*
Sit (still working on getting it a little faster)
Down-Stay (down _always _means stay, sometimes he needs reminding) 
Down-Distance: about 70-80% depending on how far I am
Recall: 95% in the house, bout 75% outside with distractions. Work in progress. 
Left/Right Paw
High five
Whisper
Speak
Play dead
Kennel
Bed
Touch: hand target
Leave it
Watch Me
Wait
Your foot, my foot (didn't really teach him that though, he just kind of "got it" one day)

This is one of my first new years resolutions that I'm actually excited for. This is gonna be fun. 

So... I guess I'll keep this thread up as a little blog for anyone that's interested. Remember, first time dog owner, so any suggestions or feedback would be _highly _ appreciated.

Edit: He doesn't know cop-cop. Don't know why I put that there. He knows "your foot, my foot" which is just shake with my feet. Cop-cop is one of the things we're going to start working on soon.

*January: 
Trick #1- Bow (Bravo) ✓
Trick #2- Kiss ✓
Trick #3- Ear Twitch (Radar)  (work in progress)
★Bonus★- Nose target dowel ✓

February:
Trick #1: Automatic wait on walks ✓
Trick #2:  Chaging command from "Play dead" to "bang!" ✓
★Reinforcement/retraining★- Loose leash walking ✓

March:
Trick #1: Stick em' up (Sit Pretty) ✓
Trick #2: Spin (work in progress)
Trick #3: Cavelettis ✓
★Bonus★-Use stairs to get off the couch ✓
*


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## Luxorien (Jun 11, 2014)

Best New Year's resolution ever! I think this is a great idea. 

Just curious - what is cop cop?


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## xChlorineAddict (Jul 17, 2014)

Luxorien said:


> Best New Year's resolution ever! I think this is a great idea.
> 
> Just curious - what is cop cop?


This is a cop-cop  http://prntscr.com/5nktoi

Very nice resolution! Keep us updated.


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

That is a great idea. I know if I was not taking Kris into the arena two or three (actually sometimes four)times a week to work on Obedience, I tend to slack off and really just train general manners at home. There are really a few things I should start working on at home if I am going to be doing Agility with her this year so that is my New Years Resolution.


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## petpeeve (Jun 10, 2010)

Sue Ailsby's "Training Levels".

http://www.sue-eh.ca/page24/page23/


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## Luxorien (Jun 11, 2014)

xChlorineAddict said:


> This is a cop-cop  http://prntscr.com/5nktoi


Ahhh, ty.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

*January: **
Trick one- Bow*

We started working on "Bow" yesterday. I figured it was a good simple luring trick to start out with. We had difficulty teaching it to him when he was younger, because he was just so darn low to the ground. Even the dog trainer of our class couldn't get him to do it. So I was prepared for a lot or work on it. But he got it within four or five minutes. He even started raising his butt off the ground from a lay down in order to get the treat. I love seeing when his mind works like that.

He's still a little sloppy. He doesn't have all that much core strength, so he leans to one side on his elbows. We spent about ten minutes on it, and by the end he was offering the behavior without mugging my hand. He just followed it down. He's nowhere near graceful, mind you. But he got it. I'm anticipating probably 4 or 5 more ten minute sessions before he does it to the verbal command. That seems to be his learning curve. I think after we work on getting the command down, we'll work on smoothing out the kinks and make him bow like a gentleman.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

Worked a little more on Bow. Realized pretty quickly that he likes to go straight from his bow to a down. He's a lazy little dog. So I've been clicking the bow and luring him back up to a sit or stand before I give him a treat. Looks much better. 

We really need to work on his mugging when I'm luring in. It's _badddd_. But since it's such a close-contact lure, he won't follow my hand unless he is mercilessly mugging at my hand. 

Day two and still zero recognition to the vocal command. Don't expect it for alteast a few more days.


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## itsjustmebre (Mar 29, 2011)

Watson is such a cutie! I'm really looking forward to hearing all about his training! Bow is such a fun trick to teach, but it can take a little while to learn haha. Good luck!


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

itsjustmebre said:


> Watson is such a cutie! I'm really looking forward to hearing all about his training! Bow is such a fun trick to teach, but it can take a little while to learn haha. Good luck!


It's really fun to teach. He gets super into it, because he loves to snap up to a sit. It is harder than I initially thought it would be. Instead of teaching a body position, like sit or down, it's actually teaching him a movement. Down to a Bow and then up to a sit or stand. I can't figure out if it's better to click the clicker when he's in the bow position, or when he's up from it. I've been clicking when he's in the bow, and then giving him the treat when he's up. 

Three short sessions and I can already drop the food from the lure. Now it's just my hand luring him up and down. I've been mixing in other commands that he already knows, because the down up motion constantly has just got to be hard on his little back. 

For the record, I've just been using his breakfast and lunch as training. He's so food motivated that I can just use kibble. I mix in a few Zukes minis (he _loves_ the salmon ones) so he gets random jackpots of awesomeness.


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## pawsaddict (Apr 17, 2013)

Following your thread and doing it along with you! Great idea!


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

pawsaddict said:


> Following your thread and doing it along with you! Great idea!


^_^ Awesome!

So it's day four of this, and he's still not offering the behavior without some kind of lure, either food or my hand. I think it's probably because this is the first thing we've ever done that isn't a naturally occurring position that he just takes in everyday life (He never does the play bow with other dogs). Normally after we've trained something this much he's offering the position to get a treat, even if he isn't responding to the verbal command yet. But like I said, it's not a position he takes normally, so I'm not terribly worried. We also haven't trained anything new in probably about a month and a half maybe two (my bad), so we've gotta get his brain back in working order and my timing up to snuff. We've done four sessions, each one 7-10 minutes. With how it's going, I'm thinking it's probably going to take twice as long as I originally anticipated for him to respond the the verbal command. He does snap to the positions I want really quickly when he figures out whats going on. He seems to be having fun with it.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

So I think I'm going to start teaching our next trick in tandem with Bow. Kiss. But I think this one I'm gonna try capturing, because it should be super simple to capture. Just wanna see how well it works, and if I can get him to do a kiss once or twice with the command without him going all Lickatung.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

And then our next trick is going to be some experimentation with free shaping. We started dabbling in it a few weeks ago. I got him to twitch his ears on command "Radar." But we only did it for a day or so, so he lost it. I think we're gonna start up on that one again.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Looking forward to updates!

One suggestion for the bow - make sure you click when he's in position, and then reward in position if at all possible. So even if he's gotten up, reward down at the ground so he has to be in the bow position.

Also, maybe try adding duration to it? That might help solidify what you're looking for so he'll start offering it.


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## itsjustmebre (Mar 29, 2011)

I agree with elrohwen, that really helped when I was teaching Bailey  He used to jump right up too, but now he'll stay in a bow for as long as I ask.

Good luck with kiss and radar! Radar is such a cute idea


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

elrohwen said:


> Looking forward to updates!
> 
> One suggestion for the bow - make sure you click when he's in position, and then reward in position if at all possible. So even if he's gotten up, reward down at the ground so he has to be in the bow position.
> 
> Also, maybe try adding duration to it? That might help solidify what you're looking for so he'll start offering it.


I'll have to stuff treats directly in his mouth one after the other. Usually the instant he gets a treat in his mouth after the position, he'll lay down. Which is why I was luring him back up. But he'll follow a hand lure now. So maybe I'll just try having a few treats in my palm, luring him down and then just giving him in his mouth one right after another. And slowly spacing them out more and more. And then saying "free" (which is his general release cue) when I lure him back up with my hand.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Look up "reverse luring". If you've ever done It's Yer Choice it's basically the same. Great for adding duration.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

elrohwen said:


> Look up "reverse luring". If you've ever done It's Yer Choice it's basically the same. Great for adding duration.


OMG that is genius. I never thought of that. It makes so much sense. 

Does it work if the dog doesn't really know the command yet? I can see it working when he "gets" the command, to teach duration. But will it work if he's still being lured into the position? I guess I could lure him into position with my hand and then use the other hand for the treat.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

chimunga said:


> OMG that is genius. I never thought of that. It makes so much sense.
> 
> Does it work if the dog doesn't really know the command yet? I can see it working when he "gets" the command, to teach duration. But will it work if he's still being lured into the position? I guess I could lure him into position with my hand and then use the other hand for the treat.


Not at the very beginning, but if you're been working on it for a few days it might work to add it in. I would introduce the concept with something he already knows first so he understands what you want.


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## sharpei (Mar 15, 2013)

reverse luring can work great, its how I teach leave it. it also teaches the dog to think a little more dynamically as they have to figure out when your luring vs reverse luring and can get your dog to be more attentive to other signals from you than just the lure. using a combination of the two is a great way to start training distraction resistance.


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## hounddawg (Jan 10, 2012)

Great thread chimunga! You inspired me to revisit some training with Henry. We worked sort of off-leash for the first time today at a park so it was a great way of adding distraction, distance and duration to his stay and recall. I've been working really hard on his stay and recall because I'm so paranoid about him getting hurt if he doesn't know them 120%. I've not done as many fun tricks like bowing, but I think I'll try that tomorrow! Thanks.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

We worked on reverse luring. We did some eye-contact and some sit exercises. It worked really well. He picked up on what I wanted very quickly. Definitely gonna use that a lot in the future. I got my 6 month old food-crazy puppy to not even _glance _at the food. Win. 

The problems I'm having right now is luring. Whenever I lure him to the ground, he mugs my hand really bad. Like biting and scratching. And I don't know how to get it to stop and still have the lure work. If I pull the food away when he tries to mug my hand, he thinks I want him to leave it alone, and he won't follow it anymore. But if I lure him with it he tries to eat my hand. I can't really use reverse luring for it at this point, because he still doesn't really understand the position I want him in. I can use my hand, to lure, but it doesn't work nearly as well, and he falls into a down much more quickly. 

I may try luring him down with my hand, with another hand under his belly to keep him up. Then I can click when he's in position and treat him. May take some doing. I could definitely use 2 more hands. I don't really like the thought of physically keeping him bottom half from moving down, but it doesn't hurt to try.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

hounddawg said:


> Great thread chimunga! You inspired me to revisit some training with Henry. We worked sort of off-leash for the first time today at a park so it was a great way of adding distraction, distance and duration to his stay and recall. I've been working really hard on his stay and recall because I'm so paranoid about him getting hurt if he doesn't know them 120%. I've not done as many fun tricks like bowing, but I think I'll try that tomorrow! Thanks.


^_^ Corgi power! We'll have a horde of awesome trick corgis in no time flat!

I need to work with Watson on stay. We've worked on it, but he can be pretty sloppy. I really want to work on recalls outside, but the snow is taller than he is right now, so it makes it hard.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

chimunga said:


> I may try luring him down with my hand, with another hand under his belly to keep him up. Then I can click when he's in position and treat him. May take some doing. I could definitely use 2 more hands. I don't really like the thought of physically keeping him bottom half from moving down, but it doesn't hurt to try.


Tried ^that method for a few minutes, and it seems to work much better. He's not going crazy over the food, so he can focus a little more. He was really confused when the clicker noise came from his butt-region though.


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## hounddawg (Jan 10, 2012)

chimunga said:


> ^_^ Corgi power! We'll have a horde of awesome trick corgis in no time flat!
> 
> I need to work with Watson on stay. We've worked on it, but he can be pretty sloppy. I really want to work on recalls outside, but the snow is taller than he is right now, so it makes it hard.


 Corgi power indeed!

I tried teaching bow yesterday. Thanks again for the inspiration! 

I couldn't come up with a good hand signal for it, and "bow" seems to sound a lot like "down" but I'm going with it for now. He did the lying down thing too if I started him from a sitting position. But if I held the treat in front of his nose and moved it forward until he was walking and *then* lowered it, he would bow and I'd click. Just had to have him *walking* forward and ready to click before his butt could lower. Not sure if you already figured that out, sorry if you did, but it helped me a lot. ^_^

As for stay, it was the first thing after "sit" that I taught, and I'm still shocked he got it so quickly when he was 10-11 weeks old. I'm always upping the ante. Right now we work on "Go to bed," he gets in his crate with the door open, I say "Stay" and then I walk out of his sight. The first few times he would leap out after me when I disappeared, but soon enough I got 2 seconds behind the wall and he'd come on "Okay!" Stay is taking forever to reinforce because it's just a matter of increasing the seconds and the distance sooo gradually. 

Recall is hard for me too because we don't have a backyard per se, so to work on him outside with enough distractions to make it real life applicable... The park is really the only choice and it's not ideal for obvious reasons. I really need to invest in one of those long lines and get someone to go with me. >.<

Chimunga, if you're on Instagram, the corgi community there is awesome. Your middle picture in your sig reminds me this one account called "corgibutts" or something, and they literally post nothing but... corgi butts...


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

hounddawg said:


> Corgi power indeed!
> 
> I tried teaching bow yesterday. Thanks again for the inspiration!
> 
> ...


I seriously thought about Instagram. But I jumped off the smart phone bandwagon a while ago, so I don't have an easy way to get my Corgi pictures to the interwebz. Once my tax return comes in, I'm probably gonna get a decent low-range DSLR. I'm gonna be honest, it's literally just intended for taking pictures of my dog. Maybe when I do that, I'll jump back on instagram. I reserved an account for him before I got him "ElementaryMyDearCorgi." Nothing on it though.

A long lead isn't even an investment. It's like....two lattes. 
http://www.amazon.com/Guardian-Gear...TF8&qid=1420843816&sr=8-2&keywords=long+leash
Watson loves recall training. We'd go to the park near us, which had a track around it that dogs and people walk around. I'd just let him get distracted and then call him when he wasn't paying attention. It was super fun, because the faster he ran to me, the more treats he got. 

We need to do_ a lot _of work on Kennel and Go to bed

I think the hand signal thing is why Watson isn't "Getting it" yet. Normally, he responds to hand signals lonnnng before he does to vocal commands. He'll sit 100% of the time when I use the signal. Maybe 80% or so with the command. And the hand signals I use are always just a version of whatever lure got him to do the behavior in the first place. But "bow" looks just like "down." And if I turn my hand with my palm facing upward, he'll paw it, because an upward hand is paw targeting (shake).


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

Took a little break from tricks to do some manners training. Don't want to forget about that. It's easy to forget about manners when tricks are so fun. 

He goes into the bow position with a very nice snap now. Still have to use the lure though, haven't been able to fully fade it yet.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

Figured out one of his hand-ups. The way I say "bow" and the way I say "down" are really similar. Any time I checked for comprehension by saying "bow" he would just go into a down. So, to clear up any confusion, I started using "bravo." I can already tell he's starting to figure it out now, because when I say "Bravo" to check for comprehension, he stand their and looks at me instead of offering a behavior he already knows.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

Eeeeeeeee. He did it. EEEEEE I'm excited. It only happened once. I was explaining to my husband why I switched from bow to bravo while Watson and I were training. And Watson did it when I said bravo. It was adorable. OMG I'm psyched. Two training sessions with the new command. I didn't ask him to do it too many times after that without the lure. Didn't wanna overwhelm him. 

I think I figured out a few things for the future. He responds way better when I'm excited (obviously). And it's hard for me to sound excited about commands when they're just one syllable. I switched from bow to bravo, and our energy is so much better. I sound more excited, and he's snapping into positions so quickly. And I think part of it is because bravo is a fun word to say, and I can say it really silly and melodramatically. So, I guess from now on, I'm picking fun words. 

So it took about 10 days of consistent training, 1 or 2 ten minute sessions a day, to get a response to a verbal command. I think it would have taken less time if I had used bravo to begin with. I'm learning. This is really entertaining.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

Slightly off topic:

Been using some reverse luring to help with his barking problem. He's very reactive to any barking from the TV or my computer. He seems to be figuring it out. It's going to take a very long time. But I think with some consistency I can whiddle him down. He's a corgi, so there's no way I'll ever get him to not bark, but I would like to make him feel a little more secure. The barking sounds anxious. He only reacts to barking in the house.


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## jade5280 (Feb 20, 2013)

chimunga said:


> Slightly off topic:
> 
> Been using some reverse luring to help with his barking problem. He's very reactive to any barking from the TV or my computer. He seems to be figuring it out. It's going to take a very long time. But I think with some consistency I can whiddle him down. He's a corgi, so there's no way I'll ever get him to not bark, but I would like to make him feel a little more secure. The barking sounds anxious. He only reacts to barking in the house.


 What do you do when he barks? My friend has a 7 month old corgi that barks at dogs on TV and dogs outside as well and she's having trouble getting her to stop. She is also very reactive to the sound of the microwave and whenever they open the oven.


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

I want to start teaching Kris to back up. Someone showed me how to do it with a treat, sort of pushing it towards her but she just gets too excited about getting the treat. The way I taught Lucy was to make a sort of channel with a crate and a wall. I threw a treat in and then asked her to back on her way out. She never did seem to get it but may try that way with Kris. Anyone have any other ideas on how to do it?

Kris has done so much Obedience that as soon as I stop, she automatically sits. Her stand for examination is so solid, I don't want to tell her to stand, then back up as I don't want her to get the idea she can move when I tell her to stand.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

jade5280 said:


> What do you do when he barks? My friend has a 7 month old corgi that barks at dogs on TV and dogs outside as well and she's having trouble getting her to stop. She is also very reactive to the sound of the microwave and whenever they open the oven.


I hold a treat in my hand and put some soft barking on my computer. If he barks, I close my hand. When he stops barking (because he can't see the treat anymore) I open my hand. If he goes say, 10 seconds without barking at it, I'll give him a treat.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

We had a little bit of training ADD today. He seemed to be a little bored with what we were doing. So I got a dowel from the hardware store and taught him to nose and paw target the end. Actually, my husband came home about two minutes into the training session, and he commandeered it. So really, my husband taught him. It was pretty much the easiest thing ever, and they were both having a lot of fun doing it. I had to keep reminding my husband that Watson wasn't supposed to be jumping.


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## jade5280 (Feb 20, 2013)

chimunga said:


> I hold a treat in my hand and put some soft barking on my computer. If he barks, I close my hand. When he stops barking (because he can't see the treat anymore) I open my hand. If he goes say, 10 seconds without barking at it, I'll give him a treat.


Thanks. Yeah that's what I would have figured. I'm not sure what she's actually doing to try and stop her from barking.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

Annnnnd WE HAVE COMMAND RECOGNITION. Woot! He's still sloppy. Actually, really sloppy. But he knows what I want when I say Bravo, so it's all smooth sailing from here. It's much easier for me to refine his movements than it is for him to learn it in the first place. He will bow when I say bravo, and when I click, he pops up into a sit (Almost like a puppy push-up). Sometimes it's really sloppy, and he just kind shuffles back on his hind legs for a bow, but his brain is working and that's what I'm looking for. Next step is to get him to do it with his back feet staying planted and then going from a bow to a stand. I think I'll do that by just having him do bow/stand/bow/stand repetitions. But now that we (kind of) have it down, I'm going to start working on other things, and refining the bow during our regular training sessions. 

I picked kiss for our next trick because I expect it to be super easy. The biggest problem I anticipate with this is to get him to stop licking. 

Radar's gonna be hard, but I really wanna start working with him on free-shaping. He gets so focused on what I want, and me showing him what to do. I want him to start experimenting so I can get him used to it young. It'll probably take me well into February to teach him though. 

One of the things I noticed as I started teaching him bow is that he got more and more focused on me, and less and less focused on the food. I think he really likes having a job. I'd accidentally drop food on the floor, and he'd glance at it and wait for the next thing to learn. I really really like that. It became more about the learning and less about the reward. It probably helped that we have literally done at least 2 training sessions a day for the last two weeks. He has not had a meal out of a bowl since Dec. 31st.


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## pawsaddict (Apr 17, 2013)

Yay, Watson! Marley and Nova seem to be having a bit of trouble with the bow. I am still - very, very slowly - fading the lure for them. Marley did do it a couple times without the lure last night, though  Then she forgot it all this morning, lol.

Kiss is a lot of fun! Watson will pick that up in no time


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## hounddawg (Jan 10, 2012)

chimunga, thanks for the "bravo" tip. Had the same problem with "bow" sounding a lot like "down." 

Also, I just taught Henry "spin." Very fast and, for some inexplicable reason, SUPER adorable when he does it. Maybe you can try that next after kiss?


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

hounddawg said:


> chimunga, thanks for the "bravo" tip. Had the same problem with "bow" sounding a lot like "down."
> 
> Also, I just taught Henry "spin." Very fast and, for some inexplicable reason, SUPER adorable when he does it. Maybe you can try that next after kiss?


I was gonna try teaching Watson spin through free-shaping. We've tried luring it, a lot, ant he just doesn't get it. I'm not sure if maybe I was luring it wrong, or I was trying to teach him too young. Maybe I'll try luring it again, and then we can try free-shaping if that doesn't work.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

What is it about luring that isn't working? Is it trouble with fading the lure?


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

elrohwen said:


> What is it about luring that isn't working? Is it trouble with fading the lure?


Yep. That's exactly what it was. The problem was probably that he was too young when we tried to teach him last time. I think he was maybe 2.5 mos old. Ans he hadn't gone through any impulse control training or anything, now that I think about it. So I'll try luring now that he's a little older, and it'll probably work just fine.


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## WreckItDave (Jan 16, 2015)

I'll be getting my Corgi within a month and I'm super excited. My biggest research project lately has been trying to get as prepared as possible to train him.

What resources did you use to train Watson so he learned:
Sit (still working on getting it a little faster)
Down-Stay (down always means stay, sometimes he needs reminding) 
Down-Distance: about 70-80% depending on how far I am
Recall: 95% in the house, bout 75% outside with distractions. Work in progress. 
Left/Right Paw
High five
Whisper
Speak
Play dead
Kennel
Bed
Touch: hand target
Leave it
Watch Me
Wait
Your foot, my foot (didn't really teach him that though, he just kind of "got it" one day)

Thanks


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

WreckItDave said:


> I'll be getting my Corgi within a month and I'm super excited. My biggest research project lately has been trying to get as prepared as possible to train him.
> 
> What resources did you use to train Watson so he learned:
> Sit (still working on getting it a little faster)
> ...


A whole lot of reading. Like a ton. Pat Miller mostly. Sophia Yin, Patricia McConnel, Ian Dunbar. Every Zak George and Kikopup video. 

My biggest suggestion would be _Positive Perspectives_ by Pat Miller. It's a great book with solutions to pretty much any puppy problem you might have. My breeder also suggested _The Focused Puppy_, and it is great. A little harder to find though. You can only get it used. For tricks, I liked _101 Dog Tricks _by Kyra Sundance. Also youtube and this forum helped a lot. A lot, a lot.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

I haven't updated this in a few days. The snow finally started melting, so I've been trying to use every training opportunity to get Watson back to walking well on a leash. I am happy to say that after three solid days of reminding, he's back to his old self. So much easier. There are a lot more dogs where we live now, so it's nice to to have him jetting up to each and every one of them.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

So we've been swamped lately, and my dear pup seems to be going through an obnoxious adolescent phase. So going forward, I'm gonna have to loosen my goals a little bit. Honestly, I figured I might need to eventually. 

"Kiss" was really easy to teach via capturing. Like, insanely easy. And he did learn to nose target a dowel (very quickly), so I feel like this month was a very good success. Maybe not phenomenal. But the point of this was to have attainable goals. 

We've been working on a lot of manners stuff. Mostly re-training LLW after our move, and teaching barking manner.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

The first thing I think we're going to work on in is sitting automatically when I stop on walks. It's not strictly a trick, but it's something we need to work on, so that's going to be my first goal. We've already been working on it for a few days, and he's been doing very well. He seems to have a lot of fun doing it. It turns the walks into a game for him.

I also realized that I have unintentionally taught him to circle around me when I turn around and go the other way while on a walk. It's turned into quite the elegant little move.


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## hounddawg (Jan 10, 2012)

chimunga said:


> The first thing I think we're going to work on in is sitting automatically when I stop on walks. It's not strictly a trick, but it's something we need to work on, so that's going to be my first goal. We've already been working on it for a few days, and he's been doing very well. He seems to have a lot of fun doing it. It turns the walks into a game for him.
> 
> I also realized that I have unintentionally taught him to circle around me when I turn around and go the other way while on a walk. It's turned into quite the elegant little move.


Sitting when you stop sounds like a great one to have. I've definitely noticed that anything that seems like a game gets Henry's strict attention, including the LLW.  Good luck on that going forward!

Not to hijack your thread, but I just got Henry to respond to verbal cues for "back up." At first it was just for fun (because it's freaking cute honestly), but it's quite handy because he rushes to get to doors before me and I don't always want him going into the room I'm entering. So hopefully as we work on it I'll be able to get him to back up and stay when I need him to. 

Thanks again for the inspirational thread. I'd gotten kind of stale after we missed registration for the intermediate class and didn't quite know where to take his training, but you helped me realize that any "trick" is useful in getting him to settle down, focus and help him (hopefully) mature a little.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

hounddawg said:


> Sitting when you stop sounds like a great one to have. I've definitely noticed that anything that seems like a game gets Henry's strict attention, including the LLW.  Good luck on that going forward!
> 
> Not to hijack your thread, but I just got Henry to respond to verbal cues for "back up." At first it was just for fun (because it's freaking cute honestly), but it's quite handy because he rushes to get to doors before me and I don't always want him going into the room I'm entering. So hopefully as we work on it I'll be able to get him to back up and stay when I need him to.
> 
> Thanks again for the inspirational thread. I'd gotten kind of stale after we missed registration for the intermediate class and didn't quite know where to take his training, but you helped me realize that any "trick" is useful in getting him to settle down, focus and help him (hopefully) mature a little.


^_^ Hijack away.

Watson kind of knows a back up command. It's not really official though. He knows "out," which is just back up out of whatever room you just came into. But that's just kind of a manners thing. Maybe I'll make back-up our other trick for this month. I'm gonna stick to two.


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## xChlorineAddict (Jul 17, 2014)

I love following this thread! I need to make a list of the commands + hand motions for my own tricks I will want to teach my future dog soon!


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

I tried to make a quick video. It's the first time I've ever tried to film training. It was super awkward. I don't have enough hands to hand signal, click, treat, and hold the camera all at the same time. Watson was pretty confused. He's usually a lot snappier than this. Maybe next time I'll just film my husband giving the commands instead. 

Also, sorry for the vertical video. I hate it, but it was the only comfortable way to hold my ipod. 

Near the end of the video where I paused, I actually dropped my whole treat bag on the floor, spilling food everywhere. Watson didn't even bat an eye. I was pretty proud of him.


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## hounddawg (Jan 10, 2012)

chimunga said:


> I tried to make a quick video. It's the first time I've ever tried to film training. It was super awkward. I don't have enough hands to hand signal, click, treat, and hold the camera all at the same time. Watson was pretty confused. He's usually a lot snappier than this. Maybe next time I'll just film my husband giving the commands instead.
> 
> Also, sorry for the vertical video. I hate it, but it was the only comfortable way to hold my ipod.
> 
> Near the end of the video where I paused, I actually dropped my whole treat bag on the floor, spilling food everywhere. Watson didn't even bat an eye. I was pretty proud of him.


That is so awesome! You guys did such a great job!


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## hounddawg (Jan 10, 2012)

chimunga said:


> ^_^ Hijack away.
> 
> Watson kind of knows a back up command. It's not really official though. He knows "out," which is just back up out of whatever room you just came into. But that's just kind of a manners thing. Maybe I'll make back-up our other trick for this month. I'm gonna stick to two.


Haha, we kind of did an unofficial "out" based on an episode of Family Guy where Consuela yells at Brian "perro afuera." But formally training that and working more on "stay" would be two helpful things to keep him from charging into rooms.

I saw Watson did the same type of jumping thing with high-five. I've tried to film the training so I know what you mean about not enough hands... So cute lol We worked on learning wave hello with the cue "Say hi" by me pulling my hand away before his paw could touch my hand. The hand gesture is now a simple wave. Another super cute trick.  I'm hoping it will work well when we meet people on leash since it forces him to sit.

BTW, if you don't mind, can you also describe any hand gestures you use with the different commands you guys learn? I feel like I'm running out of things that don't look too similar. Couldn't even really come up with one for "back up" because me doing a sort of "shoo" motion looked too much like "spin" to him.

Corgi power!!! ^_^


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

hounddawg said:


> Haha, we kind of did an unofficial "out" based on an episode of Family Guy where Consuela yells at Brian "perro afuera." But formally training that and working more on "stay" would be two helpful things to keep him from charging into rooms.
> 
> I saw Watson did the same type of jumping thing with high-five. I've tried to film the training so I know what you mean about not enough hands... So cute lol We worked on learning wave hello with the cue "Say hi" by me pulling my hand away before his paw could touch my hand. The hand gesture is now a simple wave. Another super cute trick.  I'm hoping it will work well when we meet people on leash since it forces him to sit.
> 
> ...


In all the basic commands, they're just watered down versions of how I use the lure. But from here on out, I'm probably gonna start teaching him one handed versions of ASL signs. It'll be a little harder, because it's not intuitive, but I'm running of out gestures....


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

This doesn't really pertain to trick training, but I finally broke down and got Watson an "In Training" vest. I am so sick of people just charging up to him on walks. He charges up to them, hits the end of the leash, and then they bridge the gap. Thus teaching my dog "Hey, if I pull on the leash, I get to see people!" Hopefully a little vest can mitigate that a little bit. I'm sure it won't be 100%, but even a 50% improvement would be amazing. 

I got him one on etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/187207742/in-training-dog-jacket-vest?ref=shop_home_active_1


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## Hector4 (Sep 16, 2013)

Those vests are awesome.


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

We're official now


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## chimunga (Aug 29, 2014)

So I haven't updated this for a while. The reason was that most of February and like half of March was spent re-training Loose leash walking after being really lax on it over winter. So tricks got put on the backburner while we worked on that. 

But, we didn't ignore tricks all together. 

Currently we're working on Stick em up (which is just sit pretty). It took about two weeks of short training sessions to build his core strength up so that he could sit up. I would have him sit up against a wall, and then lure him up. Sometimes I would support his chest with my hand so that he could stay up. Building up his core was really the biggest hurdle. And after that, it was just getting command recognition and fine-tuning. 

We also worked on teaching "Bang!" as play dead instead of over. He got that really fast. Like, within five minutes he understood what I wanted. 

I've also been working on trying to get him to realize he has back feet. So cavalettis. He took to them really fast.

Anyways. I'm going to start updating this again, as we have his leash walking back under control, and he really likes learning new tricks. 

I've found that the more I teach him, the quicker he learns new tricks. It's pretty neat.


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