Adventures in Training the Beagles

Interesting observation

I can put my dogs in crates, leave the house and they are fine.

However, if I am home they scream their heads off.  Taking a few seconds every minute or so, quiet checking to see what I am doing.  No matter where I am in the house, if I head in their direction, they stop screaming.

Same thing happens when we are "out" somewhere like at an agility trial.

I wish I could leave them in the building and have peace and quiet and I'm sure everyone else does to. As a result, most of the time i leave them in the car (weather permitting).

Or should I say, my dog.  Though Maggie is just as bad.

Photoshoot

Macy had her first commercial photo shoot today, and she is definately not a border collie.  And she can't focus on two things at once.

She was to interact with a puppy, and unfortunately when we put them together they looked like littermates, not mother and pup.  That's what happens when you put a small 13" beagle with a tall, probably 15" male pup.   Even if he is around 8-9 weeks old.

Also we couldn't get either to do what they needed to do when they were together.  Macy wouldn't stay and focus on the camera, neither would pup.

So we ended up doing it apart.

Not sure if they got anything they could use, but it was interesting and I know what to work on. 

By the way, the atmosphere didn't get her at all, and she enjoyed the two young girls -- probably elementary age, as they were definately younger than my niece and the girls I did summer camp with.  A group whose energy level is difficult for me, much less Macy.

Good progress

Last two days have been a whirlwind.

Agility class was match style, we all showed up anytime after 7:30, walked the courses and took turns.  Macy did fabulous on the teeter, had some trouble with the chute, and did a good job on the jumpers course.

Nothing that my losing a few more pounds wouldn't fix!

We also had a super class at @DogCityTrainingCenter.  We are doing rally on Friday nights.  I got tickled because the instructor wanted me to fade food on the course.  Well, if we ever get any of the behaviors on cue, mabye.....  But I'm still very much training.  We must be doing a good job of faking that we know what we're doing.

Why I like training at Dog City Training Center

I'm trying to drum up some business for a training center near my house.

Why?

Well, it's near my house.  It's actually in Carrollton, just north of Beltline, just west of Midway, and takes me less than 10 minutes to get there.

As opposed to training with the area's best agility instructor, which on a good day takes 45 minutes and I've spent as long as two hours in the car getting there.

The agility instructors are young and have good ideas.  I know Emily the best, as I have trained with her the longest, as fellow competitors.  She's a USDAA judge and has several different sized dogs.  Michelle I don't know as well, though we have been in classes together.

The greatest part, is that the center is inside.  

I plan to start my next dog there, and wait until we have a good foundation before I start training with Elizabeth -- which I would have to do anyway.

It's a really great place to work out problems -- like my teeter issue, I posted about earlier.

I also really like Paula as a dog trainer.  She's very patient, puts up with my "no force" ideas, and is really great with dogs.  She teaches a lot of the basic classes, especially reactive.  I've done a "Crate Grames" class with her, and plan to do another one during break.  She's super at clicker training, which I think is the best way to train dogs.

I'm taking a Rally class on Friday nights.  I don't work really hard on it right now, but we are having fun playing with it.  One of my biggest issues with Macy right now is calorie issues, she's willing to train all day, but she'd turn into a very round beagle, it's hard to find the right balance of calories in and calories out, so I have to really maximize what we're working on.  Plus I find agility the most fun.

We even took Traci Murdock's Hollywood Dog class -- and that might even pay off soon.

So if you are even mildly interested in dog training in Dallas, check out Dog City Training Center.  They are at http://www.dogcitytrainingcenter.com/

Teeter Breakthrough

We went to @dogcitytraining Center tonight, expecting to do an agility class (I wasn't the only one), but instead spent the time working on bang-it.

Macy has a teeter phobia, too much noise, and isn't a lot of fun for her, sadly.  We've been working on a game called bang-in and we had a major breakthrough tonight.

Basically with bang it, you're trying to get the dog to control the teeter.  You start with them touching the teeter, and you eventually get them to bang it on the ground.

I had it level, and she was pulling it down and standing on it.  I also got her to do the teeter completely by herself, and with me on her side, so we made some great progress!

We'll be working hard on it during winter break.

The Plan - Stay

Training the stay the traditional way hasn't worked.  Basically, I stay sit, move, and the dog moves.  I can get her to stay if I'm still, but the moment I move, she moves.

I've seen some vidoes, etc. lately on back-chaining and it gave me the idea to back-chain the stay.  I am working on two different pictures right now.

a) Sit stay

I am getting Macy to go to the other side of a jump, having her sit opposite of me, and clicking for her to stay.

b) Down

I am working on getting her to go to the table from a distance and doing a down.  Right now, I'm working on getting her to be about 10 feet away, and we're about 6 feet away right now.

The plan is to work on duration first -- get at least a 5 count -- and then start moving around.

Background on our Stay

First, I used to hurt dogs when I trained them.  Years ago, I used a pinch collar, a choke collar, etc. to train my dogs, and used physical force to get them to do what I wanted to do.

Years ago, I used to train police dogs, and the guys would use electric collars. 

I'm tired of that.

I also think that when you tell a dog to sit, they should sit until you tell them to get up.  Same thing with down and stand.

I've tried all that with Macy, and the minute I move, she moves.  We need to fix this.

Now, back in the day when I used corrections I had a beagle named Peppermint Patty who couldn't stay either.  Used lots of force, use lots of corrections. 

Then I had a beagle named Marcie, who I could put on the stay line at an agility trial and go to the whole end of the arena, and she would take every obstace in between.  Took a while, but I got it.  She could do the same type of thing at the table.

Same thing with Maggie.

Both dogs I trained to stay at the start line, told them to sit, moved away and they would do it.  Like I said, took a while.

I swear I'm using the same techniques with Macy, but the moment I move, she's gone.  She's stay for a while if I stay still, but not as long as I can stay.  She'll eventually get up every time.  And she twitches while she is trying to stay.

New Blog on Dog Training

I've tried this before, and it hasn't worked.  Hey, I tried this with Macy at the beginning.

I'm trying some new techiques and people want me to write them down, so I'm going to try.

Here's the deal.  Macy's nickname is Wild Woman, and as a result she has no stay.  I'm not sure if it's because I believe in the Wild Woman thing, or because she truly can't stay, but she will be 4 on January 10th, and she has no stay.  None.  What so ever.

Here's what she's got:

• Touch (nose)
• High Five (paw touch)
• Sit
• Down
• All of the agility behaviors
• Spin right
• Spin left

These behaviors show up on a regular basis:

• Dead - on her side, sometime her tongue even hands out
• Bow
• Various backup behaviors
• Heeling

Most of the behaviors are captures, not truly shaped behaviors.  I'm working on shaping the backwards behavior.