Ziva's first lesson - platform, retrieve and play
This is Ziva, a 12 week old Australian Cattle Dog.
Here are a few clips from her first lesson. She is learning how to stand on a platform, how to retrieve a dumbbell and how to play with a toy (plus give it back!). These are all foundation skills that will serve her well down the road.
In a thirty minute lesson, we go back and forth between these three concepts. Rotating keeps the attention of a puppy, and I believe it helps them learn faster.
Another very promising baby!
11 comments
I love being able to see you working with a young puppy at the start-thanks so much for letting us share, that looked like it worked so nicely the moving from one thing to another and keeping the energy/excitement level high so both the handler and puppy stayed happy and engaged-just how it should be.
Yes Laura; that would have worked as well. This puppy isn’t terribly food motivated, so throwing food would likely have her cruising around the room doing anything but work. For a food motivated dog, throwing light colored food on the dark floor and then bringing them back works quite well. I was actually surprised that she worked for treats; I had expected we would be working for a toy.
What a lovely lesson! I love how thriled the mom was when the puppy put her mouth on the dumbbell — I’ve felt that, too. :)
Denise, I can’t wait until your seminar this weekend! The help you gave us with heeling last month has worked wonders. Dragon did his first rally course today! I rewarded him with a tug every 2-3 signs — we still need to build his stamina for heeling for longer periods — but he was right there with me, so beautifully. :) I could hardly believe it; with my previous dog we trained twice as long to get to this point!
I love watching puppies work.
What a cutie! Out of curiosity do you ever throw treats to reset the dogs instead of using your body?