Saturday, December 11, 2010

Dog Camp Day Two

I didn't get my butt kicked even once (although I did get called on a couple of sloppy manoeuvres near the end of the day today).  Rylie had a blast and showed that we really have been working on foundation stuff quite a bit.  I did have him tugging at camp a bit today so I'm pretty pleased with that.  We had a table exercise where the tug was supposed to be the reward for offering behaviours at the table.  I asked what I should do since I knew there was little chance of getting Rylie to tug on the table.  It was suggested I use the exercise time to work on tugging.  The funny part is that Rylie loves tables as he has been well rewarded for the table so he wanted to go on the table.  My partner suggested that I use the table as a reward so that's what I did - Rylie tugs  he gets released to go on the table.  A little bass akwards but he was cool with it.  He also has the "fake tug" down pretty well as he growls and paws at the toy.  My partner would say "release him to the table" as she would think he was tugging and I'd have to tell her he was just faking it lol!  He does keep me on my toes.

Tugging is something my dogs will do at home but not consistently in other environments.  Susan Garret's training philosophy is based on having a tugging dog and I have seen how it builds drive so I can't argue.  I came home with some suggestions on how to build the drive for this as this is the only thing I have "don't wanna don't have to" moments with and I haven't been sure how to work through them.

2 comments:

katie, Maizey and Magnus said...

I wonder if Cavaliers just aren't natural tuggers? Maizey hardly tugs at all, but Magnus is a good tugger. It's so cool how our dogs will operantly do something they aren't inclined to do. And how flexible positive training is! You can use the "skill" as the reward-how cool is that?:))

I'm glad your camp was fun! Thanks for commenting on my Cavalier Query!

Beyond the Dog Dish said...

Kodee is a tugger but not Becky! Maybe its a black/tan thing lol! Glad you are learning and enjoying. So far the snow has stayed away - figures crossed you dont get hit with snow tomorrow