Hi! It's Cinnamon.
Look at this video of Mint practising Recalls on a long lead in his puppy class this week. He doesn't look like a Beagle at all! He keeps following Mum around and doesn't let her call him from a distance. Actually there were five other puppies around although you can't see them in the video. If it had been me, I wouldn't have been able to ignore them!
* If you can't view the video here, try this.
From Cinnamon and Mint's Mum:
Honey, thank you very much for your advice on Mint's Recall training in your comment to this post. In fact I didn't think about the importance of keeping the Not-break-a-command rule when I was trying to make Mint sit and wait. All I was trying to do was to give some distance between Mint and me, because we couldn't practise recalls otherwise. But, after this video was filmed, our cameraman came in to help and called Mint to him so that I could call him back, which went successfully!
But, again, as Honey reminded me, I must keep it in mind not to let Mint break a command as much as possible, when we are doing any kind of training.
Showing posts with label puppy training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label puppy training. Show all posts
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Mint learning to Stay at his puppy school
Hi! It's Cinnamon.
Mint had his puppy class last night.
The first exercise they did in the class was attention exercise by cruising around the training centre with the leash loose while dogs kept attention on their handlers. Mint is really good at this type of exercise because he keeps looking at Mum whenever he wants some treat.
Next, after practising Sit and Down, they practised Stay with the handler standing a leash length away from the dog. Mint cannot stay laying down quietly, although he is pretty good at staying sitting. So, when humans were told to make their dogs stay in the either sitting or laying down position, Mum made Mint stay sitting, which he did really well as usual. She also tried to make Mint stay in the laying down position, but he couldn't stay laying down without mouthing Mum's hand. I am sure that Mum will do lots of Stay practise in the laying down position with both Mint and me, as it is one of things that I am not good at either.
After a Q&A session, they also learned how to go through a gate nicely. The handler makes the dog sit and wait, clicks if the dog stays sitting when the gate opens, and goes through the gate with the dog following behind. Because it was almost three quarters into the one-hour class, Mint was so tired that he couldn't do it well, Mum says. It took a while for him even to sit, and when he sat, he couldn't stay sitting.
My humans say that they were again impressed with how good all the puppies in the class were!
Mint had his puppy class last night.
The first exercise they did in the class was attention exercise by cruising around the training centre with the leash loose while dogs kept attention on their handlers. Mint is really good at this type of exercise because he keeps looking at Mum whenever he wants some treat.
Next, after practising Sit and Down, they practised Stay with the handler standing a leash length away from the dog. Mint cannot stay laying down quietly, although he is pretty good at staying sitting. So, when humans were told to make their dogs stay in the either sitting or laying down position, Mum made Mint stay sitting, which he did really well as usual. She also tried to make Mint stay in the laying down position, but he couldn't stay laying down without mouthing Mum's hand. I am sure that Mum will do lots of Stay practise in the laying down position with both Mint and me, as it is one of things that I am not good at either.
After a Q&A session, they also learned how to go through a gate nicely. The handler makes the dog sit and wait, clicks if the dog stays sitting when the gate opens, and goes through the gate with the dog following behind. Because it was almost three quarters into the one-hour class, Mint was so tired that he couldn't do it well, Mum says. It took a while for him even to sit, and when he sat, he couldn't stay sitting.
My humans say that they were again impressed with how good all the puppies in the class were!
Thursday, 22 April 2010
Mint's first day at his puppy school
Hi! It's Cinnamon.
My little brother Mint went to his puppy school for the first time on Tuesday. Because I couldn't go with him, here I am going to tell what I heard from my humans.
His puppy school is taught by a great dog trainer, Flip at Flip's Top Dog. In Mint's class there were seven puppies including Mint. What impressed my humans most is most of the attendees had brought a clicker and treats to the first class and most puppies had already learned to sit and down very well. Remember that this is a puppy school, not an ordinary obedience class!
My humans say they were glad that they had taught Mint some tricks before attending the puppy school so that Mint could do what other puppies did.
They did attention exercises as well by calling the puppy and doing a click-and-treat if he looked at his human and preferably followed his human with the leash slack. But, of course, Mint had to do his job as a Beagle, i.e. sniffing, during those exercises.
At the end of the class, they were given homework; 1) practising to sit and down more, 2) doing more attention exercises, and 3) reinforcing good behaviours using a clicker. This is a four-week course. So, I will keep you updated with how it is going for the next three weeks.
My little brother Mint went to his puppy school for the first time on Tuesday. Because I couldn't go with him, here I am going to tell what I heard from my humans.
His puppy school is taught by a great dog trainer, Flip at Flip's Top Dog. In Mint's class there were seven puppies including Mint. What impressed my humans most is most of the attendees had brought a clicker and treats to the first class and most puppies had already learned to sit and down very well. Remember that this is a puppy school, not an ordinary obedience class!
My humans say they were glad that they had taught Mint some tricks before attending the puppy school so that Mint could do what other puppies did.
They did attention exercises as well by calling the puppy and doing a click-and-treat if he looked at his human and preferably followed his human with the leash slack. But, of course, Mint had to do his job as a Beagle, i.e. sniffing, during those exercises.
At the end of the class, they were given homework; 1) practising to sit and down more, 2) doing more attention exercises, and 3) reinforcing good behaviours using a clicker. This is a four-week course. So, I will keep you updated with how it is going for the next three weeks.
Sunday, 11 April 2010
Mint's toilet training - much better now!
Hi! It's Cinnamon.
Thank you so much for all your advice and encouragement to my humans about Mint's toilet training!
Well, today I am glad to be able to tell you that the training has progressed a lot since my last post. Mum increased the frequency of Mint's trips to his toilet area in the garden, following Honey's human's advice, and also started having him stay in his crate with the door closed for an hour or so, following Lexi's human's hint to use a crate (Thanks both!). In the result, he didn't use his toilet training pad at all today! He didn't wet the floor at all either!! However, his daytime toilet frequency is still very high when he is outside the crate. So, my humans are going to ask the vet about it (some friends are concerned about a possibility of bladder infection) when Mint has his final vaccination in a week, if the frequency doesn't decrease by then.
I am teaching Mint how to handshake :-)
Thank you so much for all your advice and encouragement to my humans about Mint's toilet training!
Well, today I am glad to be able to tell you that the training has progressed a lot since my last post. Mum increased the frequency of Mint's trips to his toilet area in the garden, following Honey's human's advice, and also started having him stay in his crate with the door closed for an hour or so, following Lexi's human's hint to use a crate (Thanks both!). In the result, he didn't use his toilet training pad at all today! He didn't wet the floor at all either!! However, his daytime toilet frequency is still very high when he is outside the crate. So, my humans are going to ask the vet about it (some friends are concerned about a possibility of bladder infection) when Mint has his final vaccination in a week, if the frequency doesn't decrease by then.
I am teaching Mint how to handshake :-)Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Mint's toilet training - slow progress...
Hi! It's Cinnamon.
Do you remember that I told you that my little brother Mint never missed the toilet training pads when he did pee or poo in his puppy pen? But, things haven't been going so well since then.
Our humans have been trying hard to teach him where his toilet is, but he more than often forgets to go back there and pees on the kitchen floor. Whenever his behaviour shows that he wants to go to toilet, Mum takes him to his toilet training pads, but he doesn't want to stay there, and instead he pees at a different spot. What is worse is that now he often pees just outside the toilet training pad, when he is inside the puppy pen, as if he was testing our humans to see how they would respond.
Mum takes him to his toilet area out in the garden every hour, but he often pees much more frequently, perhaps because he drinks so much water! Should they limit the amount of water Mint drinks by keeping his water bowl empty sometimes?
Our humans would appreciate it if you would give them any advice! (While they are focused on Mint's toilet training, they don't give me much attention, which is not good at all!) Or, are they just rushing all too quickly?
Do you remember that I told you that my little brother Mint never missed the toilet training pads when he did pee or poo in his puppy pen? But, things haven't been going so well since then.
Mint at 9 weeks old (a week ago)
Our humans have been trying hard to teach him where his toilet is, but he more than often forgets to go back there and pees on the kitchen floor. Whenever his behaviour shows that he wants to go to toilet, Mum takes him to his toilet training pads, but he doesn't want to stay there, and instead he pees at a different spot. What is worse is that now he often pees just outside the toilet training pad, when he is inside the puppy pen, as if he was testing our humans to see how they would respond.
Mum takes him to his toilet area out in the garden every hour, but he often pees much more frequently, perhaps because he drinks so much water! Should they limit the amount of water Mint drinks by keeping his water bowl empty sometimes?
Mint's toilet area in the garden
Our humans would appreciate it if you would give them any advice! (While they are focused on Mint's toilet training, they don't give me much attention, which is not good at all!) Or, are they just rushing all too quickly?
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