Training - Voice alone versus hand gesture and voice

[Nik]

We have started at a formal training school with Kahlua to challenge her more. She already knows her basics as we have been doing NILF and home training from day one but we wanted to take her training to the next level so we signed up for a new local school we hadn't been to yet.

This past weekend I was surprised to learn that Kahlua is actually shaky on commands when delivered with voice only. She can easily do any command with hand gesture only and is great with hand and voice combined. But, when only voice is used for even the simplest commands she automatically looks to my hands and waits for my gesture. So now our new trainer wants us to work on getting her just as solid on all her commands with voice alone. I hadn't even realized we were relying so heavily on hand gestures though I have always made a point of training them solid on hand gestures alone so when we are in public I can command them without having to speak if I need to be quiet.

Our new school also does a lot of agility work. He has the most extensive agility course we have ever worked with and it is turning out great for Kahlua. It is very challenging for her as she gets nervous and apprehensive of new situations, new sounds etc. We took her on one portion of the course and she was so scared of it two go arounds that we barely got her through it and she was too nervous to even care about the reward. But, by the time we got to round #4 on the same course she was running through it on her own with perfect form and looking to me for her reward after. I am so excited to continue some of the more challenging work.

He also does scent work training and he thinks that Kahlua will be very well suited to the scent work (which I agree with). I am really looking forward to all the training in our future.

Next week we are bringing Diesel along also so he can try the new agility course (Diesel adores agility work and this course will be more challenging for him which is great).

 

[Vantage]

Good Stuff! Try to sneak in a video if you can .

For the gesture and verbal cues, you could try saying the verbal cue, Then use the gesture. Eventually Khalua will start responding to the verbal cue before the gesture. Make sure you distinctly do one after the other, and not at the same time - Physical Cues are always taken over Verbal Cues. Then you can start to fade out the physical and just use the verbal while training.

If you look at the world the way Parkour'ists do, you'll find the whole world is an agility course! Just got to be a little creative . ...I can't do half the things this dog does haha...

 

[Boxergirl]

Take a look at adding a verbal clue via clicker training. Emily Larlham (Kikopup) has some good info on changing a cue and/or adding a verbal cue while fading a hand gesture. I think her website is dogmantics. Some dogs do really well with a clicker and when using one you first capture the behavior before even adding the verbal cue or hand signal. If you haven't used a clicker before, do a little practice with your timing. Have your husband drop something and try to click the second it hits the ground. Timing is really important or you mark the wrong thing.

Very excited about the agility! Sounds like Kahlua was made for it and it's an excellent confidence builder. I'd love to see her on the course.

 

[Hector]

I wish I could participate in some of those things. There aren't any around here and it doesn't work with my work schedule even if I'm willing to drive 1 hour lol.

 

[Nik]

Good Stuff! Try to sneak in a video if you can .

For the gesture and verbal cues, you could try saying the verbal cue, Then use the gesture. Eventually Khalua will start responding to the verbal cue before the gesture. Make sure you distinctly do one after the other, and not at the same time - Physical Cues are always taken over Verbal Cues. Then you can start to fade out the physical and just use the verbal while training.

If you look at the world the way Parkour'ists do, you'll find the whole world is an agility course! Just got to be a little creative . ...I can't do half the things this dog does haha...

That is a really cool video! Our trainer was telling us to take her on children's playgrounds for practice at home.

 

[Nik]

Take a look at adding a verbal clue via clicker training. Emily Larlham (Kikopup) has some good info on changing a cue and/or adding a verbal cue while fading a hand gesture. I think her website is dogmantics. Some dogs do really well with a clicker and when using one you first capture the behavior before even adding the verbal cue or hand signal. If you haven't used a clicker before, do a little practice with your timing. Have your husband drop something and try to click the second it hits the ground. Timing is really important or you mark the wrong thing.

Very excited about the agility! Sounds like Kahlua was made for it and it's an excellent confidence builder. I'd love to see her on the course.

Unfortunately, I am terrible at clicker training. The dogs I have no doubt would do great at it but my timing sucks and I am too clumsy to use the clicker. Instead I use the verbal marker "Yes!" for when they get something right. I did try the clicker thing I just dont have the dexterity (I know I know it is just hand clicking but I am that bad at motor function lol). One of our early trainers with Diesel tried to teach us and it only took about two sessions before they decided I was a lost cause at it and told us to use the verbal marker instead.

I will have to try to get some videos of the course! One of the hill climbs on it is super high! I was telling sean that I would be nervous going up it! lol

 

[Nik]

I wish I could participate in some of those things. There aren't any around here and it doesn't work with my work schedule even if I'm willing to drive 1 hour lol.

I was so happy to find this one. Our prior trainers were all 1/2 hour to an hour away and many of them had schedules that were work week days only which was very difficult for us to get to especially during heavy traffic hours. This new trainer is 10 minutes from our home and does weekends. So much better for us.

 

[Bailey's Mom]

I've seen this or a similar video before and it was discussed on the Forum. It blows you mind that a dog can be this agile and this capable. He'd make a great police dog (woe to any bad guy with him around.) I remember wondering about the dog's joints and whether such extreme training would create joint issues later in life. At any rate, cool to watch.

As for clicker training I never got into it. Bought the book and the clicker, lost both and my interest in it. Bailey has some hand commands that she knows, but they are all treat related. I will be looking into agility for her here in town. There's a big one just outside the northern city limits on a horse farm, and one of the people running the agility area at the Bark-In-The-Park said Bailey looked like she'd be good for it. Apparently, she knew where her back end was in connection with how her front end was moving when crossing narrow raised boards, and she did A-frames and other things with ease. Not so good at weaving in an out of poles...couldn't keep the concept in mind even after watching others do it successfully. But, even her best friend who is a Border Collie, couldn't get it either, so...there's hope.