“Sit” “Down”
“Stay” “Stand” From Sit to standing up, luring forward a step or two with hand target, usually used to wipe off back feet (or put on diaper…)
“Pretty” : Currently best with food, working on command and excited response each time, not just with cookie and hand lure
“Eyes” Eye contact/check in
"Nope" Try again! If she seems like she gets real stuck I use it, and then reset
"With me" Pivot command
"Feet" Put your front feet onto an object
"Heel" Left side finish
"Circle" Right side finish, to left side if my legs are closed and to middle if they're open
"Middle" In between my legs, head up
"Spot" Lie down and relax in area; I usually signify where with a point. Often couch, sometimes dog bed. I may toss treats her way, or place between her front legs. Usually I'm working with another dog at this time, so also means to ignore the things I'm saying to the other dog.
"Touch" Nose to open palm, fingers usually facing downwards.
"Nose" Put your muzzle in my open hand, palm facing up
“Pray” More familiar with my hand motions to cue this than the actual wording, hold out arm and she’ll put her front feet on my arm, I point down and she “Prays”, I say “Amen”/motion a finger upwards to raise her head.
“What are you doing?” Wiggles up to me, head low usually. Sometimes grabs toy. Usually do this to mess with her, after a mean sounding boof or if she makes a silly move. Helps when meeting people it seems, but haven’t tested this completely. She might also just be improving with stranger meetings.
“Where’s Chance?” She and my partner play hide and seek, especially during the middle of fetch games. She immediately drops her toy to search if she’s not sure where he is. Sometimes I say it from a different room, she sometimes responds and will do a once over on the apartment, sometimes he calls her.
“Where’s your [Toy/Coffee/Lambchop/Dumpling/Stick]” I don’t have confidence she knows her items’ names yet, but when we say “Where is…” she tends to start searching, nose to the ground, circles herself, checks corners, etc. Sometimes it’s behind our backs and she just stares at us. But if she truly believes we don’t have it she’ll search.
“Go In” You can go ahead of me through the door (instead of headbutting yourself through, which must hurt??)
“Wait” Pause in walk, usually check in from where you are. Very informal, for walks in the neighborhood or in the house, if we drop a light bulb or something.
Partners Commands with Her…
“Cross” At crosswalk sections he’ll have her sit and wait, then cross when told to
“Roll” Roll over on the ground.
“Spin” (I’m doing this with her too but I like they have their own things they practice too). They are doing spin to the right.
"Which one?" He hides a treat in his hands and lets her guess which hand. She'll touch the hand with her nose.
Markers…
“Vacuum” Scatter treats on ground. She usually comes trotting from wherever she is, nose already down. I'll sometimes point out bits she's missed
“Catch” Short throw
“Get it” Her favorite, she will sometimes tense herself for the chase when she hears this mark.
“Yes” Reward at body (I’m in a bad habit of rewarding this one pretty haphazardly, at different points of body, or toss)
“Good” Also reward at my body, might switch permanently to this one for when I’m working with other dogs at home…
"Free" Exercises are done! We may switch to "All Done" so that she has a different release from work dogs
Are the wheels too in the way? Even flatter surface needed for the wall walks? I've realized this exercise makes me a little nervous to do, since I need to reset my head on heeling/walking with her, so I dragged my feet on working as much with this before. Feeling more confident with it after watching/reading this weeks Level Two curriculum.
Also, with her foot target she's so over zealous she will not really keep her front feet leveraged on the target. Especially in pivots, I notice her feet fall off the target kind of frequently. Does this make for a sloppy pivot when we remove the target?
Ok! That sounds good, I can totally do that, that makes a lot of sense.
I'll have a video up asap! My last week was nonsense busy, I'm excited to get to the next level.
I LOVE the cue "vacuum"!!
Homework:
I think the wheels are in the way, because her rear is often wide, which means you would want to stand closer to the barrier.
If the dog's teardrop finish is tight & they're really pivoting ("flip" or "swing" finish), a bigger dog can't really do it against a barrier. So I have them finish right for this. Ghost does fit in this video because of the gaps between the wheels, but fyi for next time.
Treat pocket on the left side is going to make her wrap her head, swing her rear out, and/or lean away from you. (At 1:07 you can see the leaning.) I keep extra treats in my right hand ("reservoir hand), and put them into my left hand via behind my back. If I'm wearing a treat pouch, I put it on my right hip or behind me, so that that's not a part of the picture/target. (Because the only way that the reward can be in the picture as a focal point and helpful is if it were in your armpit, basically.)
I actually want to step back from moving heel with her, rework stationary position, and then add motion again incrementally. This is how the curriculum is set up - I actually don't have stepping forward in heel until Level 4!
Can you show me luring her into heel, keeping her standing, rewarding 2-6 times quickly (with good head position from her), and then breaking away to reset?
Check out Emma's thread "Modoc Level 3 - All," and look at the very last comment thread. Look at the video "Head Position 1," my feedback, and then her follow up "Head Position 2."
Let me know if you have questions!