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Sunday, July 20, 2008

Splash! tests the waters







Splash! tries out dock diving at Wags for Wishes in San Diego.  The first day she had a blast, but the second day she jumped off and landed on the ramp. This scared her and we couldnt motivate her to jump from the dock again, so we went to fiesta island and practiced there where she really got into it again.  :) I believe she will be awesome at dock diving someday, as she loves to do crazy things. Kiko watched on with disgust. Sadly I have no video of her first jump. :( 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Emily!
That Splash is amazing! Smart dog/Smart trainers! Question: I need to have my lab, Mattie, make a slight growl face for an audition this week! Any ideas? She is a quick learner, but almost never growls naturally. I don't think I have time to start clicker training...do I? If you are willing to give me some ideas, email me at: fejjman@yahoo.com
Thanks so much! Cherie

Emily Larlham said...

Hey Cherie,

I barely ever check my comments on my blog, so hope there is still time, or if not, wondering if you found a way.

I have not taught this to my dogs, as 1 my chihuahua has no teeth, and two, I will teach it soon as it is a cool trick and I looked over it.

The way I would teach it- use a marker word if you dont use clicker training, so good, or yes. BUT if you use the clicker, you might find that even though your dog is new to it, you will get faster results.

If you take a pen and touch the whiskers on one side of the mouth the dog usually lifts its lip as they are trying to feel whats going on there with their whiskers, or to get the pen into their mouth to chew (if you tease them with it). Click this (or say 'good!' or 'yes!'and reinforce with some amazing reward. Repeat and start doing the same thing with your finger. The cue would turn into either pointing at your dog in a certain way, or add a verbal cue.

I would NEVER get my dog to snarl because they're upset and then capture it that way like most people do, as you are reinforcing that behavior in the process and making it more likely to happen.

Some dogs do growls and snarls in play- you could capture those 'mock' growls/snarls.

good luck with the audition!
tried to email you but it bounced back