Chip Boxwork First Day (for heelwork/hind end awareness) (Patreon)

Hey All! 

Training Goal: Help Chip understand how to use her hind end independently from her front end. Dogs tend to believe everything behind the front legs will just follow along and they need to be taught that they can move each leg, especially the back ones independently. This is helpful for complex heeling work, tricks, and also confidence, especially on stairs for service dogs. When a dog has a better grasp on how to move their body, they have better confidence overall and on unstable surfaces. 

So originally this was just going to be a video I pulled some clips from to demo but after reviewing the footage, I wanted to make it available so that you can see the progress and how it moved ever so incrementally towards the direction I wanted it to go. You will also hear my co-worker who trains in a different style than I do, question the progress, how I know what the dog is thinking, etc. This is a natural response to shaping if you haven't seen how successful it can be. But the proof is in the behavior produced. There is a ton of progress made here in just 8 minutes time split into several sessions. 

Please note that using the crate was a bad plan because it wasn't stable enough for the dog to feel safe. It's what I had in the moment and I wanted to show my co-workers how it changed the picture for the dog, and how it helped create movement. I would not recommend using it, but instead I have used a footstool or ottoman to increase height when I'm not getting the movement at first that I'm looking for. 

There's also a lot of distractions, chatting etc. in the video that makes it not ideal for the learner. But, I still think the content is valuable. 

Note that when Chip offers behaviors I'm not looking for I either reset or reward in a position that favors my goals. I use "no" here more as I talk to myself, or as a "no-reward marker" but it really has no impact on the dog as this isn't a word that is necessarily relevant to her. More just stupid human chatter. 

Also note that Chip gets tired pretty quickly, as this is mentally a new idea for her (she doesn't do much shaping, and instead does a fair bit of luring) and also physically challenging. This video is taped over 5-6 sessions where I was working another dog in-between so she could have a break. In an ideal world I would do 2-3 of these short sessions spread out throughout the day consistently several times a week. 

Let me know if you have any questions! 

Happy Training!