polonabonac » Topic: Sandra & Müüsli, Border Collie, 4,5 month old, Germany

This topic has 23 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 4 years ago by Polona Bonač.

Viewing 9 posts - 16 through 24 (of 24 total)

← 1 2

Author

Posts
April 8, 2022 at 6:38 am #18643
Polona Bonač
Keymaster
Nice! She is a little rocket! Really fast and focused, nice switches from toys to food and back and no problems with someone restraining her. Given that she has no problems switching you can help yourself with food throw/chase combination when you are alone and have noone to restrain her. You can throw one big piece of food away from you and than escape with the toy in the opposite direction. When you do it for a couple of time, she might feel the desire to just leave the food and come for the toy immediately. If that happens, just don’t do the chase, encourage her to go get the treat instead. She will figure out that it doesn’t go one without the other, and at the same time it is already a little impulse control exercise. 🙂
I have no “complaints” over playing, it was done nicely, she was very engaged and offered the toy to you after chasing. Good girl! 🙂
May 1, 2022 at 5:45 pm #18872
Sandra
Participant
We started “to my hand” with putting a spoon into a box, as she already knew this.
Inside it works really well, outside she is a bit distracted, but I think she did quite well and perhaps she will retrieve toys someday.. usually she likes to run away with them
May 1, 2022 at 7:38 pm #18873
Sandra
Participant
And we played with two toys in the evening:
May 3, 2022 at 2:27 pm #18886
Polona Bonač
Keymaster
“ Inside it works really well, outside she is a bit distracted, but I think she did quite well and perhaps she will retrieve toys someday.. usually she likes to run away with them”
Haha, no worries. It is all completely normal! She will retrieve perfectly when she is ready, I bet! Dogs have different preferences when it comes to toys and pups in particular very often prefer being goofy and running with the toy vs tugging, because the willingness to “fight” and overall confidence develops over time, especially with breeds that weren’t breed for “conflicts” but rather high cooperation. At different stages in their develpment dogs value different things most. When playing with toys it is important to incorporate as much of “in between” as possible. Find an interaction she likes. Little gestures, provocations, stalking, hiding… those are the things that make the dog aprechiate your imput and cherish playing with you more than playing on their own. She was switching between 2 toys nicely, so next time you can try incorporating some more “in between” into the mix, presenting the other toy randomly – any time during the game you want to change the dynamic or if she is not coming close no matter what you try.
Shaping – nice! It is always much harder outside. You can take big treats next time and reward her by giving her a small series of food throws rather than just a simple treat. If retrieving the ball is rewarded with some action it will help her stay more enthusiastic and focused on the task. 🙂
May 4, 2022 at 11:28 am #18898
Sandra
Participant
I guess I have to practice “in between” and to praise her with more excitement.. ?
May 5, 2022 at 9:09 am #18905
Sandra
Participant
Another crazy balls with a few food throws..
May 6, 2022 at 7:21 am #18914
Polona Bonač
Keymaster
Crazy balls with food throws looking good, I would just try to encourage her to come back more directly. So for example if she was on your left side to begin with and you threw a ball for her, make a “front cross” so you are now ready to call her back with the right hand. As soon as you are turned, start calling her with a happy and exciting voice. Your rotation can happen before she even gets to the toy/food, so when she is picking her up you can already call her and encourage her to get back asap. At first be static for this so your movement doesn’t push her into an “outrun” + you have time to control everything better. When you get fast responses, you can slowly introduce your movement. First walking and eventually running.
Another exercise you can do is also this one: https://youtu.be/WVWBDcMz6Fk – always rewarding in between your legs so she turns as soon as possible and comes directly back.

“In between” – yes, do that as often as possible. Try to be as goofy as you can and experiment with different options… stalking, hiding, chasing her, chasing you… she has the tendency to react to your movement but avoid comming all the way to you, so I would use the second toy a lot and put it in a following routine. When she stops somwhere with her toy, start stalking like at 2.15. When you see she has reacted to that and watches you closely, run away (as if she “spooked” you because she “caught your intentions”) fast in a straight line with the second toy. So she has to chase you down and doesn’t have time to “dance” around freely with the toy. Don’t get me wrong. Some of the free fooling around can still be part of the game, but at one point always make as described so she starts building this reflex – when my handler is running away, I have to run directly after her.
May 6, 2022 at 3:03 pm #18917
Sandra
Participant
Great, thank you. We tried trough my legs this morning and I have to wait till she’s quite near.. otherwise she’s cheating ?
We will practice this the next 2 weeks.
Crossing fingers for greece and wishing a lot of fun!
May 7, 2022 at 5:24 am #18928
Polona Bonač
Keymaster
Thank you! 🙂 And yes, go slow, be close as long as she needs you so she doesn’t get the opportunity to cheat. 🙂
Author

Posts