RubyStar Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Finally got a chance to do this this evening. All good, and what's even better was she gave me some good heelwork to boot After this we practiced some more heelwork and I was happy with it today... next time, who knows with Ruby! I even got Millie out for some heelwork and she was working well for her level tonight When she got distracted and I waited for her, she actually went round and found heel herself Well, it was crooked and a bit forward, but she had the right idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seita Posted February 3, 2009 Author Share Posted February 3, 2009 Due to the heat and the hours I've been working lately and the fact that Ella is now 6 weeks pregnant I haven't been doing much training for the last few weeks. But Leopuppy's other thread inspired me to give ella another shot and see how she goes. Due to an ant infestation in my backyard I had to work inside on a rug but that didn't seem to bother her at all. I put 2 unscented metals out and the scented, she seemed a bit confused and brought the wrong one back first try but quickly went back and got the right one. I gave her another shot which she got right so I added another unscented which she also got right twice so I added yet another unscented and she did that correctly a few times. So I thought lets really test this out so I threw 6 unscenteds out there with the scented one and she brought me the right one back twice before I decided to stop!!! I got a bit excited by this so thought I'd try woods, I put 2 unscenteds out and she picked up the right one but decided to eat it instead of bring it back (nice way to destroy my articles!) but after that first attempt of 'taste' discrimination she went out and brought the right one back 3 more times. I'll try woods again tomorrow but that was enough for today I think. We just might get this scent thing yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptolomy Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 (edited) Due to the heat and the hours I've been working lately and the fact that Ella is now 6 weeks pregnant I haven't been doing much training for the last few weeks. But Leopuppy's other thread inspired me to give ella another shot and see how she goes. Due to an ant infestation in my backyard I had to work inside on a rug but that didn't seem to bother her at all. I put 2 unscented metals out and the scented, she seemed a bit confused and brought the wrong one back first try but quickly went back and got the right one. I gave her another shot which she got right so I added another unscented which she also got right twice so I added yet another unscented and she did that correctly a few times. So I thought lets really test this out so I threw 6 unscenteds out there with the scented one and she brought me the right one back twice before I decided to stop!!! I got a bit excited by this so thought I'd try woods, I put 2 unscenteds out and she picked up the right one but decided to eat it instead of bring it back (nice way to destroy my articles!) but after that first attempt of 'taste' discrimination she went out and brought the right one back 3 more times. I'll try woods again tomorrow but that was enough for today I think. We just might get this scent thing yet! :D Well done Seita - think she has finally GOT IT I have to smile - think us humans are all the same. ;) We have a minor training break through and we get all excited and have a rush of blood and need to do more and more and more. Well done on stopping before it went pearshaped. :p Edited February 3, 2009 by Ptolomy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seita Posted February 3, 2009 Author Share Posted February 3, 2009 Due to the heat and the hours I've been working lately and the fact that Ella is now 6 weeks pregnant I haven't been doing much training for the last few weeks. But Leopuppy's other thread inspired me to give ella another shot and see how she goes. Due to an ant infestation in my backyard I had to work inside on a rug but that didn't seem to bother her at all. I put 2 unscented metals out and the scented, she seemed a bit confused and brought the wrong one back first try but quickly went back and got the right one. I gave her another shot which she got right so I added another unscented which she also got right twice so I added yet another unscented and she did that correctly a few times. So I thought lets really test this out so I threw 6 unscenteds out there with the scented one and she brought me the right one back twice before I decided to stop!!! I got a bit excited by this so thought I'd try woods, I put 2 unscenteds out and she picked up the right one but decided to eat it instead of bring it back (nice way to destroy my articles!) but after that first attempt of 'taste' discrimination she went out and brought the right one back 3 more times. I'll try woods again tomorrow but that was enough for today I think. We just might get this scent thing yet! :D Well done Seita - think she has finally GOT IT I have to smile - think us humans are all the same. ;) We have a minor training break through and we get all excited and have a rush of blood and need to do more and more and more. Well done on stopping before it went pearshaped. :p We sure do! I learnt a long time ago to stop training just as the dog really starts getting into it. I still overstep that sometimes but I'd preffer to finish a session off early and on a really high note than to push it one step too far and let it go pearshaped. With Ella I can usually go for ages because she's always so keen but I think her pregnancy is slowing her down a bit at the moment so I'm trying not to over exert her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seita Posted April 12, 2009 Author Share Posted April 12, 2009 I thought I might drag this topic back up again as we had some major success yesterday! My girl quite happily will retrieve the scented one from a pile of 5 metals, same as woods and last night I tried leathers for the first time (training has been a little slack of late) and she found the right one first time out of 3, then 4 and then 5! It won' t be long now before she's doing a full pile in one hit! I'm still using some treats on my hand to make the scent really stand out, is it just a case of phasing that treat out bit by bit until it's just my scent? Now if only I could make her understand what she's meant to do with the box! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 What is she doing with the box Seita - I have had no problems teaching that to Kenzie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozjen Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 I haven't tried scent work on a mat yet but taught my girl how to scent by playing hide her toy. at first the toy was in plain view and gradually started to hide it abit more each time until she was using her nose more. It started as a winter game to burn up some energy in the house but progressed from there to her finding the carkeys whenever they were lost(which with me is often). Until one day when I was out of the room and heard the jingle of the keys as she took them of the side table and put them in her toy box. She didn't know I'd seen it so when I came into the room I asked her to find my keys. No time wasted sniffing them out, straight to the toybox back to mum with the keys, "where's my jackpot mum". Have to admit though some of the places she has found them I would never have found them although I wonder these days if I was tricked. We also do a bit of scent work when we are in the bush, I'll drop something with my scent on it (nothing in particular, might even be a honky nut) and then on the way back I'll give her the command to find and give her my scent. She always gets the right one even if I drop it in a group of honkeynuts (I usually mark it so that I know its the right one). Hopefully what is just a game for us will one day help when we come to scent work level in trials (if ever ) or if we decide to do tracking which I'm keen to try when time permits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seita Posted April 12, 2009 Author Share Posted April 12, 2009 What is she doing with the box Seita - I have had no problems teaching that to Kenzie. Not much! She seems to understand that she needs to move somewhere in front of me but hasn't clicked that the box indicates where that somewhere is. I don't know if she actually sees it or just bounces somewhere in front of me sometimes getting it and sometimes not! I'm thinking I might switch to training it with food rather than a toy as she seems to get to focussed on me when in drive for the toy which means she doesn't notice things like jumps and boxes etc! Ahh we'll get there some day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 One suggestion I was given when I was teaching Ness who had a similar problem, no matter what I tried she wouldn't connect what I wanted to the box, she thought the exercise was run half a dozen paces turn and sit was to place the box on bricks so the dog had to step into it. I can't remember what I did in the end but it might be worth a go and see if that helps. Kenzie I lured a few with food and then waited her out and then just use toys when I reward in the yard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyStar Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 (edited) With Ruby, I lured her into the box (we're using a hula hoop for starters) then I waited her out to offer the behaviour. She now happily goes into the hoop and turns and sits, but now I'm just working on sending her from greater distances to run with a bit of enthusiasm to it. I've found the best way of getting that speed from a dog who is pretty lazy (tho you guys won't have this trouble with BC's! ) is once she hits the box, click then throw a treat far away from the box so she's driving out to the treat, and then drives back to the box in anticipation of the next treat. But I am finding I have to stand between the box and where I throw the treat to make this work, so I'm trying to find ways I can send her to the box from where I am standing and get her driving out, right now when I do that she gets halfway there and stands and looks at me Suggestions welcome Or constructive criticisms on the way I'm currently doing it if you can see it causing us longterm problems Edited April 13, 2009 by RubyStar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seita Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 One suggestion I was given when I was teaching Ness who had a similar problem, no matter what I tried she wouldn't connect what I wanted to the box, she thought the exercise was run half a dozen paces turn and sit was to place the box on bricks so the dog had to step into it. I can't remember what I did in the end but it might be worth a go and see if that helps. Kenzie I lured a few with food and then waited her out and then just use toys when I reward in the yard. I might try that with the bricks but I'll definitely need to use food if I do that. When I've got the tug she's in very high drive and still won't see the box despite it being raised (i've seen her go straight through the middle of jumps because she wasn't looking at them). I don't know why this is being soo difficult, I did lure her the first couple of times but yep she is doing exactly what Ness did - dash out a few paces (we're working from about a meter at the moment) spin and sit sometimes in the box sometimes not! With Ruby, I lured her into the box (we're using a hula hoop for starters) then I waited her out to offer the behaviour. She now happily goes into the hoop and turns and sits, but now I'm just working on sending her from greater distances to run with a bit of enthusiasm to it. I've found the best way of getting that speed from a dog who is pretty lazy (tho you guys won't have this trouble with BC's! ) is once she hits the box, click then throw a treat far away from the box so she's driving out to the treat, and then drives back to the box in anticipation of the next treat. But I am finding I have to stand between the box and where I throw the treat to make this work, so I'm trying to find ways I can send her to the box from where I am standing and get her driving out, right now when I do that she gets halfway there and stands and looks at me Suggestions welcome Or constructive criticisms on the way I'm currently doing it if you can see it causing us longterm problems Definitely don't have a problem with speed here! To get speed into the box I have been using a tug toy and racing with her to the box and luring her in, so she goes pretty quickly towards the box but just doesn't get the "I must sit in the box" bit! I think my issue with her is that I've worked on speed first rather than accuracy, so I need to go back to a lower drive invoking motivator to get her to focus away from me and more on what we're doing! Now if only it would stop raining here in Qld I might be able to get outside and actually do some training! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seita Posted April 16, 2009 Author Share Posted April 16, 2009 Ok yet more success tonight! I decided to put all articles out and get her to retrieve one scented of each. I started with Metal as that's what she's most familar with and no probs whatsoever - went out searched the whole pile and brought that one back. I then put out a wood, she picked it up first and then doubted herself and brought the wrong wood back. I did another attempt with the wood and she brought me the right one. Then onto leather (which we really have only done a little bit of work with) and she searched and searched and could not find it so I called her off and rescented the leather and sent her again. She picked it up and again doubted herself and brought me back a wood. I gave her another shot on that and she brought me the right leather back! I'll probably work with less articles for a while to get her used to searching a range of types to find the right one before I put her back on a full set but she is definitely improving! At this rate she may trial in UD this year!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyStar Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Congrats, Seita! I actually pulled my set out tonight too, haven't done much lately with it. I set the video camera up so will post a link once I get it up on youtube. I'm currently working metal and wood together, and leather separate as we've only done a little bit on leather so far. Next time, I might combine the whole set and see how we go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 I pulled out a set today and thought I would be good and my dog who is entered in a UD trial on Saturday was pure evil - she hasn't stuffed a set of articles in a very long time and she thought she would resort to snatch and grab so received a time out with no reward. Not totally harsh I got her back out did the leather that was causing the issue and rewarded and then called it a day. Kenzie did some work on article holding - seems to have a bit of a sticking point between picking the article up off the ground and me holding it reasonably low to the ground. Hoping we can get through it. No problems with holding and grabbing a DB off the ground. At least she is now back to holding the metal and not avoiding it completely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyStar Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Here's the updated SD video Also posted in the Obedience Clips thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Looks good RubyStar. Maybe I should borrow your dog for my UD trial on Saturday . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyStar Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Looks good RubyStar. Maybe I should borrow your dog for my UD trial on Saturday . If I can borrow yours for the heelwork Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leopuppy04 Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 Had to re-visit this thread as I started scent work with Kinta last night and it seems she has read Seita's post and is doing EXACTLY the same thing that Ella is doing . Katie don't wait for the weekend - go give it a go now - put 4 cans out - stand them upright and 1 scent article and send her to fetch. Do this twice and reward and then add a second non scent scent article, try again and let us know what happens. It might be best if you get somebody else to put the cans out or use a towel to pick them up and place them out. Are the 4 cans just put out anywhere or are they strategically placed out? Will try the long grass too (although hard to find long grass at the moment Well I tried the cans today and when it was just the one scented article with the four cans she just bolted out grabbed the article and brought it back. She did the same when I put an unscented article out amoung the cans but still didn't sniff. She's just grabbing the one she sees me put out there. I think I'll give her a few days' break before trying again. Have a feeling this is what she'll do to me too - she won't even sniff and will just pick it up straight away. We have played lots of 'hide and seek' with the seekback and she does that really well, but as soon as you use your scent discrim articles (wood) and have a 2nd one out, tis pot luck whether she gets it or not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 Have you played Sue's game she uses for teaching baby dogs to do scent work LP?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leopuppy04 Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 As in to find lots of things that 'smell like me' in long grass? We've done a bit of it yeah - but only started recently, so she wasn't exactly a baby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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