Trick of the Week: Hug!

For people struggling with getting from a touch to a wrap around grab, what really helped Feist was me wiggling my leg a bit so she would steady it by grabbing all the way. Just a thought.

I wonder if my pole was too narrow. Every time Mia would wrap around it she'd fall. Or maybe it was too slippery. I should have put a towel around it like I see some people do.

To be honest HOLDING the toy not in Sloans mouth will be trick enough, impulse control. LOL

So... we did a third session today but I didn't video it. She'll hold with my support for a while now but when the object is free, sliding, falling, she abandons ship.

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Sloan thought hugging my leg was too weird. :/

Sloan is doing great!

I demand video proof. opcorn:

I don't have video proof, but I do have Hudson targeting an ice scraper with his paw. This is a big step for us since we have not worked on targeting things, at all.

Funny story, we first started with it just laying on the floor and him messing with it. It kind of morphed into him doing something that resembles and play-bow mixed with a pounce. Things get crazy here.

Woo-hoo! I think Gusto and I had a little bit of a breakthrough by changing up how I was asking for the behavior. I had been clicking him in a sit pretty, putting his front feet on the bar. The issue I was having was that he was either leaning on it (because it was there, not because he needs the support normally) or flat out throwing his feet at it. There was no way I could have held it off the ground - I needed to press it into the ground or it would swing away. I was waiting for the feet to wrap around a bit and clicking that.

Instead, what I started doing was asking for the sit pretty directly behind the pole, and luring him with the treat to lean around the pole for his reward. He's not leaning on the pole at at really, but what is happening is that often he winds up with the pole tucked in between his elbow and chest, and his entire foreleg wrapped around it a bit. Not tight enough to hold, but far more what I'm looking for.

I'm giving him a break, but can't wait to see if this keeps moving in the right direction later! It's the first time since he started using his front feet to target the pole that I feel like we've taken a step forward with this trick!

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Kind of a terrible video, because I still can't figure out what I did with my real video camera, but a little bit of an idea as to what I started doing. I really think it is a step in the right direction? Right now I'm still manipulating him with the treat to get the arm wrap, but he's actually holding himself up rather than throwing his weight at the pole and digging. I'm hoping some well timed clicks will start to get at least one leg wrapping more tightly. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get the other one at the same time...we will see.

Here are videos from tonight. I think they both have the right idea. Bayleigh's taken to grabbing it with her mouth and I'm probably clicking the wrong thing. I think I'll go back to the basics with her a few more times before switching back to the toy.

This is Pirate's second try. He got the hang of it right away but he gets too excited and distracted easily. I started him with the bear rather than the stick but I think I'll go back to basics with him too. I'll use the stick this time.

Any other suggestions? Oh, and you probably want to turn your volume down or off. I have a couple cry babies in the background.

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Why are photobucket pictures so big all of a sudden?

Wow! You got that in A WEEK! Huge congrats! Gusto looks adorable!

SO impressed with Gusto!!!

I kind of followed what you did and started luring more, and we have grasping of the pole now, most of the time. man this trick is hard.

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Oh my gosh, that is too cute!

Luring was definitely the key for us. It's amazing how fast it came together once I got him reaching around. I went to a toy pretty quickly once he was wrapping around the pole most of the time with the lure.

Gusto still has a little trouble finding his balance with the toy in his arms sometimes, but he definitely gets it now. And it is so ridiculously cute I make him do it just for the smile

Well, we've got a split second longer on our sit pretty. lol. Progress is slllloooow. But it's still progress right?

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I guess everyone has moved on from this, but I haven't. Lol. Still stuck here.

I have no photographic evidence but I would just like to say that I ave officially taught a greyhound to sit pretty. It's not exactly consistent but we just had an almost 10 second long sit pretty with no flailing, bouncing, rabbit hopping, slumping. She was just sitting there eating cheese as easy as you please. Awesome.

Congrats! That's awesome! That's no easy feat. She'll be a killer trick dog yet.

I'm also having trouble keeping up with Trick of the Week, and I'm not training tricks from the ground up like some people. But it does help keep things fresh.

I'd be happy with Trick of the Month. lol

Oh don't worry - I have not moved on from this one, either. I just haven't gotten video in a while

Can't wait to see pics/video, krissy!

We're working on cleaning it up, and giving her core time to rest. She's getting a heck of a workout just doing the sit pretty part.