Freestyle Level 2 – Week 2

Review:

Backwards Heel
A nice goal for backwards heeling is to have our hand in cue position and take one step backwards with the foot closest to the dog.  We click/treat as soon as our dog is lined up with us.  Their shoulder even with our pant seam just like in regular heeling.    We feed for position by using the hand closest to the dog.  In the video below I am playing the step-forward-step-back game.  I click/treat the forward as well as the backwards motion.  This is a great way to help our dog stay attuned to us.  Note:  in the video below I am switch position.  All the mechanics are the same… just the mirror image.

Below is the next step in using a platform for backing up,  Removing the lure: 

Pivots
Once our dog gets two front feet up on the pivot we an start to move around.  We want to teach our dog to keep their front feet on the bowl while shuffling their back legs around.  The easiest way to do this is have our dog in a “front” position facing us.  Take a small step in either direction and click/treat as soon as your dog moves about the pivot.  They will likely move to maintain the “front” position with you.  The trick here is to click any movement by your dog.  Practice moving clockwise and counter-clockwise, but we are mainly interested in having the human and dog move counter-clockwise so work on that more.

Behavior Chains.
Last we worked on forward chains where we add new behaviors to the end of our chain. This week we will work on back chaining.  In back chaining we start with the last behavior in the chain and then add the second-to-last behavior right before it.  We continue this process until we arrive at the first behavior in the chain.  See below for the flow:
Back chaining is really useful if we already know the last behavior in our chain.  I use it when I plan on using the chain as its own unit of behavior.  Back chaining tends to result in a fast execution of the chain, so I use it when I want a really robust behavior.  I think back chaining is a good technique to teach your dog a “Weave 180” (see video below):

Homework:
1.  Backwards Heeling (lure/reward method):
  • Practice taking single steps backwards with your hand in cue position holding food (i.e. left hand on your left hip).   Click/treat on every step.   If you can do this 5 out of 5 times then go to the next level of difficulty:
  • Put your hand in cue position without holding food.  Mark for each step and then pass food from your other hand (or from bait bag).
  • Play the step-back-step-forward game (see video in Review section above).
Below is an example of taking single steps backwards, click/treat on every step at this level.  I think its best to use an x-pen or a side wall to help your dog maintain a parallel position with you while you practice.

2.  Practice walking backwards to platform (shaping method):
  • Lure your dog onto a side-ways mat so that her back feet are on the platform.  Start a few backups using food placed between your feet.
  • Do the hand motion of placing food between your feet, but don’t actually use food.    (see video above in Review section).
  • Adding the hand signal.  If you can to the above step 5 out of 5 times then slowly morph you hand movement from “fake putting down food” to your chosen hand signal.  See video example below:

3.  Pivots.
Work on getting into heel position while your dog is on the pivot bowl.

4.  Behavior Chains.
  • Use back chaining to teach your dog a “weave 180”.  See the video in the Review section for  back chaining above.
  • Continue working on forward chaining.  Start planning your final project:  A 30 second chain of behaviors with one reward at the end of the chain.