My Client Put Me & the Beanhead on Youtube

 Cute video Ann! Thanks for posting

Thanks for posting, that was great!  Question for ya.  What commands do you give to the circle around your legs move and the weave thru your legs move?  I'm teaching those to my guys and I'm not sure what to call them.  I feel like I need to have a different word for every different move I want them to do at some point, like "weave" for the weave poles in agility or "spin" for twirling around in a circle.  But then I get myself confused because I want to have a way to have them spin one way and then the other and I think, hmm, how do I teach him to spin in the other direction?  Any hints? 

Awww, I have a Beanhead too - my Ben.  And he's the one with all the Freestyle moves of my gang.  He doesn't twirl, but that's the only one that's missing.  He did disc dog in his heyday.  He cues off body position, as most freestyle dogs do.  It really helped me in my early training days, develop body position awareness.

This sort of thing is so natural to Aussies - they are such natural showoffs!  It's a lot of work to get them to focus but it's so worth the effort.  I have a blast everytime I foster an Aussie.  And then I breathe a little sigh of relief when they are in their forever homes.

Anne, it's official now by the way - Coltrane is in his forever home!  He will be visiting seniors, continuing his trick education, and I expect him sometime in the near future to show up in a local paper as the star of a car club parade entry.  The guy who adopted him has his eye on Veteran's Day.  He's retired and spends all day with his dog, and weekends are spent with him at car shows.  He's already taught him to retrieve a couple of tools by name.  LOL!

Anyway, YOUR bean looks super cool.  I wish more Aussie owners were as dedicated as you, then I wouldn't have to foster and place at least one a year, even though I'm not even an "official" Aussie rescuer.

 

Awesome vids -

I don't think I ever saw a good shot of Sequoyah, what a beautiful doggie!!

Thanks for posting.

BCMixs

Thanks for posting, that was great!  Question for ya.  What commands do you give to the circle around your legs move and the weave thru your legs move?  I'm teaching those to my guys and I'm not sure what to call them.  I feel like I need to have a different word for every different move I want them to do at some point, like "weave" for the weave poles in agility or "spin" for twirling around in a circle.  But then I get myself confused because I want to have a way to have them spin one way and then the other and I think, hmm, how do I teach him to spin in the other direction?  Any hints? 

I teach the weave one leg at a time (so she got good at the right leg before I ever taught her to do the left one) and my cues are "through" for the right leg, and "under" for the left.  I use "circle" for the one where she circles around me, but I will have to think another cue up 'cuz the next thing I want to teach her is to circle a prop, such as a wand, or an umbrella.  (I taught her to circle me by standing in the middle of an ex pen and luring the first few reps - she caught on to the body language cue really fast - only took about three minutes for her to learn the complete circle)

As long as you attach a different word to each discrete behavior the dog will not be confused.  Example, if I wanted to teach Sequoyah to "spin" the other direction, I might teach her from square one, using a lure at first, and then C/T for approximations of the counterclockwise spin, but maybe call it "whirl" once she completes it.  You could call it "truck" LOL.  The word doesn't really matter - it's just really attaching a sound to the move.  Dogs don't care if the word makes sense:-))  Sequoyah is so good at reading body language (as Becca mentioned) that now all I have to do is start the step and she weaves - most of the time I don't even need to issue the verbal cue.
 

 Thanks, that helps!  I need to come up with cues that don't involve the S sound at the beginning of the word, I have too many of those now and Woobie gets confused.  Sit, Spin, Speak, Scoot.  I trained too many S things I think. 

 Ha, Neiko barks at me too when he does the leg weaves. I always wondered why. It seems like a frustrated bark like Why are you making me do this stupid trick!

 Woobie developed a very sheltie-like tendency to bark through his training sessions after I taught him "Speak".  I quickly had to teach a "Quiet".  LOL!  I think of it all the time when that woman with the BC on All American Dog (or whatever that show is called) gets called out for her dog barking through all their routines.  He's just having fun!  The doggy way of saying "Hey! This is great!"

That was great! Thanks for sharing and thank your friend for catching it on vid. You and Sequoyah move so fluidly together. I love the concentration she has.

Jewlieee

 Ha, Neiko barks at me too when he does the leg weaves. I always wondered why. It seems like a frustrated bark like Why are you making me do this stupid trick!

A really respected herding trainer (with lots of experience with Aussies, he spoke at the ASCA Nationals one year very recently) had an interesting perspective on this behavior.  He proposed it was a sign that the dog was approaching the edge of hyperstimulation.  He took an Aussie that was really doing a bunch of barking while working in the round pen, and instead of riling it up like the owner was doing (squeaky voice, commands very sharp), lowered both what he was expecting of the dog and the information he was offering to get the dog to do it.

Instead of the whole thing being sort of a whirlwind of activity, all he asked the dog to do was lie down on leash quietly, and in return he stood quietly with the dog, then patted him, then walked around the sheep with him, then let him walk around off leash but didn't encourage him to circle or block him or do anything but correct foolishness (charging and biting).  

Over the course of the weekend, he increased what the dog could do without turning around and barking at him, from on leash stuff, all the way to holding sheep to him and could have done any A course work with that dog, just as he was.

He suggested to people who had this trouble, to back up in their expectations, stop ramping up the excitement level (Aussies and Shelties don't need to be stimulated!), and instead focus on making the task clear.  I've worked with a couple Aussies and a collie mix, since then, and it seems to work.  It taught me a lot about how even fun stimulation can muddle things for some dogs.

I am not saying, by the way, that Sequoyah's barking struck me that way.  Aussies just like to sound off sometimes.  I've got a BC, Gus, who likes to arooooo! when he's full of himself. 

We were just goofing off and being hyper together, which I really have no problem within that context, and I have never particularly cared whether she sounds off, since we are not planning to compete in freestyle with my bad hips LOL.  Sequoyah is a quiet worker on sheep and while tracking, and really only gets loud during this kind of activity at the training center - she does get worried that the ball will fall to another dog, and is hyperfocused on NOT allowing that to happen.  However, she is also very easy to calm down if I ask.  She does not bark at all when we are heeling or doing three minute down/stays LOL:-))   I do agree that she does occasionally have that Aussie tendency to talk, however, and to grin.  (Sioux has a lovely grin, too, but rarely barks in public, unless she has to "go" in a really big way.)

I, too hear the occasional arooooo! at my house from Maska.  I call it my "symphony". My BF and I just adore that deep, melodious hound voice.

brookcove

I am not saying, by the way, that Sequoyah's barking struck me that way.  Aussies just like to sound off sometimes.  I've got a BC, Gus, who likes to arooooo! when he's full of himself. 

I have an AROOO dog as well   I think it's great.

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They are great videos, thanks for sharing

Anne, the "bean" is adorable!  I love the leave its!

BEVOLASVEGAS

Anne, the "bean" is adorable!  I love the leave its!

Thanks.  She does "puppy pushups" and knows right from left, too.  I stand in one spot and direct her when she loses sight of the frisbee and goes around like a banshee in the yard looking for where it landed.  She will even look up in the tree when I tell her.  Crazy dawwwg.