Carlasl Posted October 15, 2009 Report Share Posted October 15, 2009 Anyone have tips and maybe some games or something I can do to teach Maya rear end awareness, she actually seems to have a rear end avoidance issue, anything I do to get her to balance and focus on her hind legs is met with opposition. I have a training ladder that I have been having her walk through and she will do everything she can to just walk through with her front feet side stepping to keep her back feet out of it, If I push the issue any she gets stressed about it. I also have been doing some work with a short milk crate, getting her to stop with her hind feet on it, I can get the stop if I bait it, but she seems to have no idea that I want her back feet on things. I was looking at a bosu ball but YIKES those are expensive. Any other tips/tricks ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildFlower Posted October 15, 2009 Report Share Posted October 15, 2009 The ladder is what they used in beginning agility for me. I did however have a subsititute teacher one class and he used some other technique, which for the life of me I cannot remember what it was called. But they took weave poles (just the poles) and set them up on crushed soda cans in no apparent order (so not like a ladder) and then you had to walk your dog throught it. If they bumped a pole the soda cans made noise. (But not too much noise.) The only other thing that I can think of is one of those tippy planks or a wobble board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRipley Posted October 15, 2009 Report Share Posted October 15, 2009 Having the dog back up in a straight line is supposed to help with this. Also, basic 2o/2o work, which it sounds like you are doing already, as well as the ladder/cavaletti. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted October 15, 2009 Report Share Posted October 15, 2009 You can do pivot work with your dog. Get a kitchen chair and have a bunch of treats - good ones. Sit your dog on your left between you and the chair. You and your dog should be lined up evenly at the front end of one corner of the chair. Using a lure to keep your dog in place (this is for physical training, not cue work), step in front of your dog with the leg farthest from the dog. Place your foot in front of your dog, but turned toward the chair. Release your dog and lure him forward as you make an exaggerated step toward the chair in front of your dog and bring your feet together (you can step more than once to get lined up). When you see your dog's rump move in toward you, click (or verbally mark) and then treat. That's the movement that you want to teach your dog is good. Line your dog up at another corner of the chair and repeat. Then repeat with your dog on the right (but still between you and the chair). After doing this for a while, you should be able to fade the lure and your dog should start to move the rump in to you by default. After this is very fluent, repeat the process using a pylon. I did this with Dean and his hind end awareness is a dream. You can also do backing up and backing up a board. Ladders, cavaletti, etc. A fun exercise I've done in beginning Agility classes is to set up a "chute" of ring gates. This should be long and wide. Maybe three feet wide and ten to twelve feet long. Fill it with junk - jump bars, boards, hula hoops, anything the dog will want to step over. Leave room for the dog to step over and around stuff, but not so much that he can avoid everything completely. Walk through with your dog a couple of times and then call your dog through. The dog can't avoid all of the junk, so he or she will really start to pay attention to his or her feet. I did this with Maddie loooong ago and it did help with her hind end awareness. Not as much as Dean learned with the pivots, but it helped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pammyd Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 Tricks, tricks and lots more tricks Heres a good start http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsvNvK8T1z8 the womans whole channel is fab Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Journey Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 Sounds to me like the dog needs to learn how to "use" the rear! Teach a back-up, not straight at first, then start adding some side passes to it while standing in front of you. You can then get to where you stand still and rotate in either/both directions with the dog facing you and his rear end is crossing over. You can also teach them how to "use" the hocks so that they sit back and rotate on the haunches (like a horse). Many dogs do not know how to use their legs individually, they need to be taught. Other things to use are backing "up" a hill, around corners, and spinning on their rears. Once a dog realizes the butt is leading they can then start to "engage the legs" and they remember their rears! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat W. Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 Ladder work and place it so its along side some type of barrier ie a wall, fence ect.. you should be on the opposite side of the ladder. With the dog on a short leash or better a training tab held in the hand closest to the dog and the yummiest treats you can find in the other. Ask Maya to step over the first bar of the ladder front feet only and reward, then ask her to move forward over the next bar, she will not be able to avoid the ladder to the fence side and you can block avoidance on your side. Move very slowly and reward with each bit of forward progress you want to give lots of verbal praise as well as treats. When she has all four feet in the ladder just stand for a moment praining her before moving on. Pivot work - get a phonebook lay it on your floor and ask her to put her front feet onto the book when she does reward and praise. As above dog should be on short leash or training tab with treats in opposite hand. You should stand about 6 inches away from the dog at shoulder level. Holding the dog move into Maya latterally meaning step sideways into her shoulder causing her to move her hindfeet in the direction you are moving...front feet should not move. Praise and reward...after a few steps switch sides and repeat. Cavaletti work start with bars on the ground in a circle or astrisk pattern as above with dog on short lead and treats start with the dog on your inside or circle side at the very edge of the circle where the bars are spread the furthest apart and walk around the circle...dog should not step on any bars...as the dog progresses you can move inward on the circle. Switch directions frequently. You can also when the dog is proficient raise the inner end of the bars using bricks or soda cans and repeat the activity, you can also raise alternate bars. Hope this helps you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlasl Posted October 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 Thank you everyone! This gives me a lot of ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziggzmom Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 Anyone have tips and maybe some games or something I can do to teach Maya rear end awareness, she actually seems to have a rear end avoidance issue, anything I do to get her to balance and focus on her hind legs is met with opposition. I have a training ladder that I have been having her walk through and she will do everything she can to just walk through with her front feet side stepping to keep her back feet out of it, If I push the issue any she gets stressed about it. I also have been doing some work with a short milk crate, getting her to stop with her hind feet on it, I can get the stop if I bait it, but she seems to have no idea that I want her back feet on things. I was looking at a bosu ball but YIKES those are expensive. Any other tips/tricks ideas? Hi, Look on you tube for Celeste Mead's 'brick work' videos. Janet ETA-Here are the links to brick work-part 1 & 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MicheleS. Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 I've used the ladder for teaching rear end awareness, taught backing up and also taught my aussie and BC Chase to back up onto the ledge to my fireplace. I believe all of that helped. I have to echo ziggzmom's (Janet) suggestion on checking out Celeste Meade's brick work video on Youtube. Some call it perch work. Nothing has increased rear-end awareness more than teaching my dogs the brick work, not to mention that my dogs think it's pretty fun too! Good luck. Michele & Gypsy & Chase Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlasl Posted October 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 Hi, Look on you tube for Celeste Mead's 'brick work' videos. Janet ETA-Here are the links to brick work-part 1 & 2 OMG! THANK YOU for that link, she figured this one out really quick, it was fun to teach her that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesney's Girl Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 I've used backing up stairs to strengthen and work on awareness of the hind end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertranger Posted November 3, 2009 Report Share Posted November 3, 2009 Amazing! Amazing, amazing!! I put down a 12ft extension ladder and stretched it out so there was a section on the ground, a double section and one in the air like this. ..............============ =========== It took Jin about 15 mins to get the idea. He's still working out how to do the section in the air first. I figure a few more times today and tomorrow I can try the brick method. Very cool. Thanks for the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariji Posted November 4, 2009 Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 Here is what i did with my little girl. It is called Perchwork. It is a great start for agility. Also teaching them to back up (which i will post a video of how i trained that soon) Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IPSY Posted November 7, 2009 Report Share Posted November 7, 2009 Anyone have tips and maybe some games or something I can do to teach Maya rear end awareness, she actually seems to have a rear end avoidance issue, anything I do to get her to balance and focus on her hind legs is met with opposition. I have a training ladder that I have been having her walk through and she will do everything she can to just walk through with her front feet side stepping to keep her back feet out of it, If I push the issue any she gets stressed about it. I also have been doing some work with a short milk crate, getting her to stop with her hind feet on it, I can get the stop if I bait it, but she seems to have no idea that I want her back feet on things. I was looking at a bosu ball but YIKES those are expensive. Any other tips/tricks ideas? How about a wobble board ? This will teach her balance and make her use her hind end . It is very scary at first for them , so go slow. If you train with a clicker , you can make a fun game of it with her. Get her to 'touch' the board with her paws , click and treat, if she gets to the point of readily 'slapping it ', encourage her to step up on it , click and treat. This takes time , but when she finds out how much fun it is , she will jump up on it and really begin to work her muscles. Look up wobble board on the cleanrun website. You can make one easily at home , or purchase it. Also teaching 'back' is a great way to condition the hind end muscles. My girl will actually run 'back' a distance of a football field , she finds it extremely fun for some reason, lol...Have you ever seen a dog 'run' backwards ? It's pretty comical...lol... Good luck Good luck... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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