Trick Challenge: Leg Weave And Variations

[MaryK]

It's a long video so it is probably just that which is upsetting your connection

Could be, though it's never happened in the past. LOL doesn't take much at present to upset our connection! Going to try again, as seem to be on a good speed at present YEAH -still in shock Also watch the reverse weave, I've wanted to teach Leaf this for ages but (a) keep forgetting and (b) didn't know how to start.

Hopefully we'll get it learned in time and put up a vid on Sunday if semi-tame partner can find the time.

 

[running_dog]

Well maybe tomorrow - got the error message But we're aiming at learning the reverse weave! Any chance someone can explain how to do it? Just in case I can't get up videos.

I used luring.
I don't know if you used luring to teach Leaf to reverse? If so get her thinking backwards luring and then experiment with where you move the treat relative to her face and you'll probably find you have a lot of directional control.
Then lure her back round each of your legs in turn, obviously start with small increments not a full circle. I think if I could go back in time I'd teach each direction/leg separately and then put the two tricks together, that way you get 3 tricks for the effort of one.
I've discovered that it is better to reward Zac after he is completely clear of my leg and in position for the next move, otherwise he stalls in a kind of peekaboo gone wrong and when it comes to actually weaving I have to step over him all the time. Once he's thinking of ending up parallel with me instead of peekaboo that problem reduces a lot.

 

[MaryK]

Yes I used luring with Leaf, seems to work better than shaping with her. Though she does learn from the 'do what I do' as well. Bit tricky though with weave - mind boggles on that

I have the same problem with Leaf if I reward too quickly, she'll stay in a 'half' position or give me sit pretty or a bow.

I'll do one leg at a time, can see the value of that, three tricks for the price of one, good thinking!

We'll start today and see how we progress. She is a very fast learner thank goodness, once I manage to get MY cues right, Leaf catches on fast. If she's giving me the 'what the *** are you wanting' look I know it's ME not Leaf who's not 'getting it'.

Thank you for the help, really appreciate it and I've also managed to watch the vid on reverse weaving! Bring on the champers, we're on top speed YEAH!!!!!!

 

[Tâmara Vaz]

Well... I'm not in, because I really don't want mess Laika's head with new weave variations. It was lot of work to do weave, eight and reverse very motivated and "perfect" tricks. But I'm here waching everybody

 

[MaryK]

Not sure Leaf will have a reverse weave by Sunday.

She knows reverse and is reversing well through my legs but I'm having problems getting her to 'turn' round to 'weave' round my one leg.

I can 'handle' Leaf, she doesn't mind being gently guided into position but her back legs are more 'sliding' around on the floor than actually 'walking' and she's looking a bit confused. Know when she look's confused I'm not getting the message through to her. So any suggestions as to how I get her to realize I want her to walk in reverse AROUND my leg, after she's gone through my legs would be appreciated.

Once I get it right, Leaf will quickly get it, it's me who's not 'getting it' at the moment

 

[teach333]

I am new to the challenges, but I am going to try this one. I hope to teach Shea backwards weaving .

 

[running_dog]

Well... I'm not in, because I really don't want mess Laika's head with new weave variations. It was lot of work to do weave, eight and reverse very motivated and "perfect" tricks. But I'm here waching everybody

Why not post a video of those 3 anyway?

 

[running_dog]

Not sure Leaf will have a reverse weave by Sunday.

She knows reverse and is reversing well through my legs but I'm having problems getting her to 'turn' round to 'weave' round my one leg.

I can 'handle' Leaf, she doesn't mind being gently guided into position but her back legs are more 'sliding' around on the floor than actually 'walking' and she's looking a bit confused. Know when she look's confused I'm not getting the message through to her. So any suggestions as to how I get her to realize I want her to walk in reverse AROUND my leg, after she's gone through my legs would be appreciated.

Once I get it right, Leaf will quickly get it, it's me who's not 'getting it' at the moment

I'm having trouble visualising exactly what your problem is but if you are still working on getting her to reverse round your leg when you are standing still you could try getting her to reverse round you as you turn with her, then stand still and get her to reverse round you, then get her to reverse round one leg, I think that is how I showed Zac what I wanted.

OR

I videoed this for you hoping it would help. Possibly she might be mixed up a bit with peekaboo thinking the trick is over once she's backed through?

With these click and reward locations she is thinking movement because she is moving when the click happens and then after the click she keeps moving to get in the reward location - which is also where you want her to be for the next step backwards. If a dog is going to stall you want it to stall beside you as your next step cues movement without you falling over the dog. It would have been a LOT easier with Gus if I'd had move space but he got there in the end. I thought he knew a bit more but he behaved like I'd never done any reverse weave with him before

Let Leaf muddle about a bit to get in the right position to be rewarded, I mean lure her and encourage her with your voice but don't physically guide her. Even if she goes backwards and forwards and spins or whatever while you are luring her let her figure out where she is going to be rewarded each time. Then she'll find the fastest way to get into that position.

 

[running_dog]

I am new to the challenges, but I am going to try this one. I hope to teach Shea backwards weaving .

Welcome to the challenge, I hope you find it as much fun and as helpful as I do

 

[Tâmara Vaz]

Why not post a video of those 3 anyway?

It can be, but won't have the "training part".

 

[running_dog]

It can be, but won't have the "training part".

That's okay, we know you already trained it, it's still fun to see each others dogs doing the tricks. Sometimes it is especially good to have videos of members dogs that have learned the trick well already because it means that we have something to aspire to .

 

[Tâmara Vaz]

That's okay, ... have something to aspire to .

Alright! Planning the video now!

 

[running_dog]

I can 'handle' Leaf, she doesn't mind being gently guided into position but her back legs are more 'sliding' around on the floor than actually 'walking' and she's looking a bit confused. Know when she look's confused I'm not getting the message through to her. So any suggestions as to how I get her to realize I want her to walk in reverse AROUND my leg, after she's gone through my legs would be appreciated.

I think I finally figured out what you mean, I'm having a slow day, I'm sorry

I think the backing round you while you turn with her solution will work but the answer possibly also lies in this part of my earlier post which I should really have explained a bit more.

Then lure her back round each of your legs in turn, obviously start with small increments not a full circle.

Firstly when teaching Zac a moving trick I try to avoid physical manipulation. Taking the steps is part of the learning process. Zac needs to feel the movement.

Secondly I don't look for a full circle at first, I look for Zac's/Gus's legs moving a little in the direction I want and click the movement. It doesn't take long, maybe 3 or 4 increments normally give Zac the general idea. Look at where you are rewarding Leaf and experiment to find what position starts to swing her backside round a little and build on that. There will be a reward position that does that - that's why dogs get "unbalanced" so easily, For example during recall if Zac is always rewarded by my right hand he starts to sit pointing ever so slightly at that hand.

 

[teach333]

How do I post a video? Thanks!

 

[running_dog]

How do I post a video? Thanks!

To post a video you need to upload to YouTube or Facebook or something like that - I have a YouTube account just for the videos I want to post here. Copy the url of your video. Back on DTA open a message and find and click on the filmstrip icon, paste your url from YouTube into the popup window. Click "embed" on the popup window and you are done

 

[teach333]

This is our attempt at the weave challenge. I hope that I uploaded the video correctly. (Thanks, running_dog, for the instructions ) If I was supposed to post separate clips of what he knows already and then the training of the new variation, I apologize. Just let me know, and I will do better in the future.

I chose to teach backwards weaving and used the terms swing and sway. I began by luring Seamus into positions. Then I transitioned to using hand touches to get him into position on either side of me. The last part shows how we ended the training session. I am very pleased with his progress. The movements that I had to make felt awkward, which is normal for me when trying a new move, but if I can figure out myself, I think Shea will take to this new variation nicely.

 

[running_dog]

This is our attempt at the weave challenge. I hope that I uploaded the video correctly. (Thanks, running_dog, for the instructions ) If I was supposed to post separate clips of what he knows already and then the training of the new variation, I apologize. Just let me know, and I will do better in the future.

I chose to teach backwards weaving and used the terms swing and sway. I began by luring Seamus into positions. Then I transitioned to using hand touches to get him into position on either side of me. The last part shows how we ended the training session. I am very pleased with his progress. The movements that I had to make felt awkward, which is normal for me when trying a new move, but if I can figure out myself, I think Shea will take to this new variation nicely.

Your video is absolutely fine, it doesn't matter whether what the dog already knows is in the same video as the new trick, it is just what suits each of us at the time.

I loved seeing you working with Shea, it really made me feel like I know nothing seeing him grasping the concept so quickly, he's so keen and so attentive and you communicate with him so clearly. So you just taught the swing and sway cues for this trick? They worked really well and totally sidestepped the problem I have with tripping over the dog. Also those cues will generalise to teaching quite a number of other tricks too. What you were doing there makes so much more sense than teaching a dog to back round your leg if the objective is weave rather than figure 8, because really he doesn't need to be circling just slanting. Really really enjoyed it and learned a lot, thank you so much.

In the what he already knows part I had a hard time figuring out how you could be walking backwards while Shea was weaving forwards . I also loved the one where he stands up on either side of you.

 

[MaryK]

I'm having trouble visualising exactly what your problem is but if you are still working on getting her to reverse round your leg when you are standing still you could try getting her to reverse round you as you turn with her, then stand still and get her to reverse round you, then get her to reverse round one leg, I think that is how I showed Zac what I wanted.

OR

I videoed this for you hoping it would help. Possibly she might be mixed up a bit with peekaboo thinking the trick is over once she's backed through?

With these click and reward locations she is thinking movement because she is moving when the click happens and then after the click she keeps moving to get in the reward location - which is also where you want her to be for the next step backwards. If a dog is going to stall you want it to stall beside you as your next step cues movement without you falling over the dog. It would have been a LOT easier with Gus if I'd had move space but he got there in the end. I thought he knew a bit more but he behaved like I'd never done any reverse weave with him before

Let Leaf muddle about a bit to get in the right position to be rewarded, I mean lure her and encourage her with your voice but don't physically guide her. Even if she goes backwards and forwards and spins or whatever while you are luring her let her figure out where she is going to be rewarded each time. Then she'll find the fastest way to get into that position.

Thank you soooooooooo much!

I knew I was the problem, not Leaf, she was giving me the "Umm what do you want Mom" look.

The video is a great help, I can now see exactly where I've been going wrong. Started with Leaf in the wrong position, clicked at the wrong time and likewise with the treat. LOL I got it ALL wrong, no wonder Leaf's confused!

We'll start the right way next training session and I'll let Leaf muddle about a bit at first, as yes, she does 'get it' that way.

I know what you mean with space, we have that same problem here - in fact Leaf sometimes has to jump on a ottoman and off again to do weave and she does it with ease too. I normally move furniture around but sometimes we do an 'impromptu' session and the furniture remains in place.

Thank you again for taking the time and trouble to video how to do reverse weave. LOL can well understand why you couldn't understand what I was trying to explain as I had it ALL wrong!

Will try to get a video up by Monday, your time, if Leaf can manage to learn reverse weave quickly, now I know what I'm doing!

 

[MaryK]

Yes, forgot, you're right, she was thinking the trick was peek-a-boo and all over once she was thru my legs - LOL then she'd do the prettiest sit pretty and a bow - she's creative even when I goof up!

 

[running_dog]

Thank you soooooooooo much!

I knew I was the problem, not Leaf, she was giving me the "Umm what do you want Mom" look.

The video is a great help, I can now see exactly where I've been going wrong. Started with Leaf in the wrong position, clicked at the wrong time and likewise with the treat. LOL I got it ALL wrong, no wonder Leaf's confused!

Check out the method that Teach333 is using in her challenge entry, I love her method, I think it is way better than what I have been using and I think Leaf will love it too .