Just a quick update on Miss Mia :-) The red dawg is doing GREAT!
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I have been really focusing on toy drive with the little redhead...but along with toy drive she is doing great on her crate training, going into and staying in her crate. I was putting a lot of time into the toy drive however, just because once toy drive is coming along, there are TONS of options available.
So I am upping the ante on the toy....she has to bite the toy HARD...in addition to that...I have been making toys out of socks...
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This used to be a sock :) I use old socks...put canned dog food in them and let the dogs tear them apart, tug on them and try to get the food out....GREAT for creating toy drive! :) Mia is on her 3rd sock---she kinda likes that game! I let the dogs destroy them....meanwhile trying to tug or get them to chase....she will now do both :) BIG SMILE!
I think with building toy drive you have to just mess around with stuff....doing clicker sessions, using made up toys...anything to get the dog to show interest :)
As a result of all of this work, and teaching Mia that using her mouth to grab things is REWARDING...Mia's curiosity about toys has really increased! TEN FOLD!!!!
Below is a video of her new skills :) I am downright proud of the girlie!!!!
When Mia picks up a toy I don't try to engage with her in play...I let her just play and develop those abilities...if I try to get involved that would probably put her off enough that she would stop playing. I don't force play, I don't shove toys in her face, I get her to come to the toys...SHE has to make the choice :) And it looks like she is for sure doing that! :)
Next up...restrained recalls...plan is to teach her a tunnel so I can do restrained recalls by myself....send to tunnel and run :) FUN FUN! I'll get video of this girlies speed! :) YAHOO!!!
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5 comments:
Love Mia! How old is she?
I am super interested in how you are building her toy drive. At the very beginning - when you just want her to touch the toy - do you put food in it? Then once she starts tugging on the food sock, that will really transfer to tugging on anything without food? I can just imagine Ricky turning up his nose at play or tugging when he found out there was no longer food!
I'm not a fan of red dogs, but that is one cool lookin' dog! And I love the "kill it" thing she does!
Oh, and take the stupid word verification off your blog. Makes it a pain in the ass to comment.
Chris--Mia is 2 years old :)
I just taught her to touch things with her nose using shaping. Once I had her touching things solidly for a food reward. Then I introduced touching the toy....and kept upping the ante bit by bit until she was doing it with a lot of excitement and actually biting the toy.
The food sock is to get her used to tugging on things...then I will tie a food sock to the toy I want her to end up tugging on..and work that slowly until she is only tugging on the toy. You have to build drive in tugging WITH food first (depending on the dog of course)...it does work very well. I have done this with several other dogs...works great. And not all were BC's. Does Ricky play with toys by himself? Does Ricky play with other dogs with toys?
Jodi--she is a cool dog :) Very! I tried taking the word verification thing off...however, I started getting upwards of 50 spam emails a day...sorry..sticking with the word verification... :(
Thanks for the advice - I have been watching what you are doing with Mia before I try with Ricky again. He will tug some if it is his idea but doesn't like to play with toys much and doesn't like to play with other dogs (unless you include barking at them - LOL!). For tricks and agility and obedience he expects food rewards only. My fault - I messed that up when I trained him.
Chris--don't think you ruined his toy drive...if you work on it you will be surprised! :)
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