Teaching Front Finish To a Maniac (train, paws, food, walk)
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Wyatt McRiot is learning a new trick. It's difficult to teach him. Food doesn't work because he gets so excited about food that his brain switches completely off.
He does a nice "front" except for when he comes in too fast and can't stop and slams into my knees. A front is where he comes when called and sits at my feet looking up at me.
The "finish" is when he moves from the sit in front of me and into a sit at the heel position. He gets too worked up about "heel", so we are starting with the "finish" which usually comes after learning "heel".
Food doesn't work, so I am using lure training with just my hand as the lure. It took him exactly one time showing him for him to get the general idea of it. It's going to take a lot of time to perfect because one "good dog" sends him into nerve jangled, hyper-kinetic, super drive.
Another little glitch is that after he was shown one time, he has followed me around all day, leaping and cavorting around me in tight circles, begging me to do it again. We are having two lessons each day, one finish per lesson, and the dog has gone into hyperdrive with excitement. I suspect that he is going to be one of those high style dogs that leap and twist in the air to get into the heel position. I love to see that. There is no way to teach it; a dog does it or he doesn't. Most dogs get up and run to the heel position.
Other than that, Wyatt McRiot is doing well. He was called from the front yard yesterday, ran about 50 mph right through the front door and tried to turn without slowing down. He hit a small rug, the rug and his feet flew up into the air. He slid into the wall opposite with a loud crash, got up and continued his run into the house, where he skidded sideways on the wall to wall carpet, which did not slide under his feet. He then started to leap in circles around me, begging me to ask him to learn something.
It's nice to see that he is settling down a bit as he gets older.
He does a nice "front" except for when he comes in too fast and can't stop and slams into my knees. A front is where he comes when called and sits at my feet looking up at me.
Teaching him to target an area right in front of you might work well. It is fairly simple to teach a dog to nose touch a target stick. Then hold the target stick out in the area where you want him to stop (rather than slamming into your knees) so that he has a visual of where the goal is for a successful front. Another benefit of using a target stick is that is can act to focus the dog's attention on that spot, useful with high-drive dogs.
When you are training, don't give him the opportunity to get up the speed to run full steam at you. Begin training fronts at short distances; do several very fast short repeated fronts, e.g. ask him to come front, back up 2 feet request front again, then repeat 4-5 times. Once he gets the hang of the short distance front, then increase distance incrementally only when you know he has a solid front at the shorter distance. If he slams into you then you have advanced too far too quickly, so back up to the last distance that he reliably did a proper front. But also- once he has a reliable front on the shorter distances, if he does slam into you then all training ends immediately as it sounds like the training/learning IS his reward.
It may also be useful to teach him a no-reward marker so that he has confirmation that his over-the-top behavior isn't acceptable and will result in an immediate end to that training session. Just a very matter of fact, nope, or head shake and walk away to end session.
That level of drive and enthusiasm is awesome, and yes the leaps into finish are wonderful.
Wyatt McRiot is learning a new trick. It's difficult to teach him. Food doesn't work because he gets so excited about food that his brain switches completely off.
. . .
It's nice to see that he is settling down a bit as he gets older.
Hehehe!
Twelvepaws concept of no-award training sounds possible. And the short distance bit sounds good, too. With such good advice in front of me, I'm only writing to mention that the tale of Wyatt McRiot is fun!
And I do think of one suggestion - train after you've taken McRiot out to run a few miles. Get that energy level back down so he can think and focus. Sometimes it helps.
I was going to suggest using low-value food as a reward. But with McRiot going gaga over "good dog", I don't think that would be the answer!
Teaching a really smart dog is interesting. Wyattt got the finish position really easily. But a smart dog can think of too many ways to do things. If a sit to the side is a good dog, what about a sit further back? What about a sit sideways? How close do I have to get? Is it still a good dog if I get into position but lie down? How about if I turn upside down?
We got the finish issue settled and I am starting on the "heel". That triggered lots of leaping and dancing, but finally Wyatt settled into a perfect heel position, tight by my side, following my down the hallway. The only problem was I was moving facing forward and he was moving backwards.
Sigh.
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