Pivots and Such
In the midst of hanging tightly onto a new, beefy rope tug yesterday, acting as if I were in control as my innards were being relocated, I made a decision. I would not opt to go any further with training Raven to tug as a reward. She’s just too darn strong and likes to show it. So after I asked for her to release, I tucked my guts back into my belt, gave her the rope toy with my blessings and realized I would have to teach her some fun, quick games she will enjoy when I need a little something more active as a reward than food, and don’t have the option of playing fetch with her. Fetch also gets her way over the edge and doesn’t work very well as a reward for teaching her new things.
Speaking of teaching, I bought the download of Silvia Trkman’s heeling video. It is good, and I learned some things from it. Teaching the dogs to pivot around an object with front paws on object while hind legs move around, though, is still HARD. She brought to my attention that I’d been luring, so I stopped. We are moving slowly along now, and we seem to be stuck in a couple steps right then a couple steps left. Raven likes to climb on top of her stool, or she’ll pull her front paws off the stool and do a spin and jump back on. That is too cute. She offers so many cute behaviors, it’s hard not to go off on tangents. I am sure she cannot believe all I possibly want is for her to pivot around the stool. Anyway, this is going very very slowly.
Dudley and I are working the Susan Garret Recallers class. He’s loving it and so am I. He’s just a superstar. Especially when I have treats in my pocket.
I’ve been trying out Silvia’s heel (on my own, without the video). We’re doing okay, but it is really hard to get him to do it on his own. He’ll keep himself opposite me if I move around the object, but getting him to do it on his own is proving very difficult. I’m sure this is my fault and I’m not communicating what I want to him.
I also wanted to sign up for the recallers class, but the need for a newer car (purchased yesterday – and thank goodness as I don’t think the old one would have lasted much longer) won this time.
Congratulations on your car. Woo woo! That pivoting is a challenge all right. I’m glad I’m not the only one struggling with it. It takes a longer time to get them to do the pivot on their own than I imagined. But sooner or later, it will click. That was not an intended pun. 🙂
What commands are you putting on the pivot? Do you have a separate word for pivoting left and pivoting right?
That’s what I thought about for the last two nights as I was getting them to pivot around the circle – however excruciatingly slow we go – what words I should use. I thought about turn and twist, but yes, I’ll have a separate word for each. Maybe I should make up two words. Once I get them going on understanding their pivots, I can name them, and that should help swing them all the way around. What do you use?
So far nothing and I’m not sure what would be best. I’ve gotten him to pivot a full circle to the left, but nothing to the right, which I’m okay with since I don’t have a name for either yet! I’m wondering about using “scoot in” for the one to the left since when done he will end up scooted into heel, and then “pivot” for the right and then he’ll end up in a heel position but one the right side? Then again there is a lot of merit for just making up words, or maybe using German, right and left in German are different enough…
I keep trying to see where I will be using this in the future, but I’m afriad I’m not seeing all the possibilities.