PE for Wally 1: Hopping and Jumping

For the first attempt at bringing in physical aspects for him, I decided to try his hopping and jumping, and trying to get him to get better at both.

Hopping is just a matter of trying to capture it, but he needs to do it more consistently to make that more likely. For now, he still needs something to motivate him to try reaching. I didn't want to use food as the lure as this is a good chance to make an object more rewarding and desirable.

I used one of his rabbit skin strips, and he was certainly attracted! After a bit of teasing, he stood up on his back legs, but didn't make any hops.

I encouraged him to "get it" and he did start hopping. I lifted the object up more and moved it around to get him really tracking it. Once he hopped up to get it, I let go and let him shake it. Then I gave him a click and a treat and started again. Now, he was twice as into it, and started getting higher off the ground and hopping more steadily. Still need some work, but this was a good effort, and I didn't want to wear him out for the jumping.

Now the jumping, that's a different story. He wasn't certain of it, and I think part of this is because he's lost judging the distance past the jump. I think he was as much uncertain of that as he was of the hoop again.

He tried to go around the hoop, like he did way back in the beginning. After much urging, he started jumping through the hoop. I clicked while he was in the air going through the hoop, and rewarded him when he landed.

He got more motivated, but still, he was hesitant. Looks like this is something that will really need to work on to get him back where he used to be comfortable with the hoop.

He also used to jump "in" the hoop and then back "out" the hoop if I held it a little above the floor and flat. This time, though, he totally refused.

That's good, though, because it shows me where he needs work and what we need to keep working on, and that means more chances for the both of us to grow.

Some Physical Activity Today

Today, I worked mostly on physical sort of things. Can't forget about his body, especially since I'm not taking him walking as much because of the weather and time constraints.

Of course, we did all this stuff indoors. It's way too hot to be outside doing any of this stuff!

First, I had him do some balancing. Started with his standing all the way up on his back paws. I wanted him to stand still for a little time before I praised him and gave him a reward. He had to be perfectly still, no wobbling around or taking steps to balance during that time. He had to do all that to get balanced, then hold it for at first a couple seconds and then about five before he got the prize.

Since he loves to walk while he's on his back paws, I worked that in the next round. I got him going and then stopped and he had to stop moving and get his balance and hold it. This was harder, but he was able to do the same.

After about a minute break, I asked for the "sit pretty" pose where he's sitting on his back legs but the front ones are up. He used to barely be able to get into this position, but now he's able to hold it for quite some time and be perfectly still with it. He's even raising his paws up higher.  This one is no challenge for him any more, but I still go through it anyway. Practice never hurt anything.

Next up was one he did one day trying to get food from me when I was playing with him. He had to do those two poses above, but on my lap. This is different since my lap isn't as stable as the floor. My legs are round, they aren't hard like the floor (ha!) so it's harder for him to stabilize.

He's clearly uncertain about it as he's slower in getting into the pose, especially standing up on his back paws, but with enough encouragement (read: egging him on and teasing him!) he'll get up there...and then start climbing on me like a tree!

One thing I've thought about is maybe actually trying to get him to balance on a ball or something. Never tried it, but it might be interesting to try and see.

The last thing we did was getting his jumping on. Not only coming up to and jumping laterally through the hoop, but holding the hoop close to him and higher up to get him to try jumping vertically more. I'll also put the hoop low, and have him jump "into" it so that's he's standing within the hoop's area. Then he has to jump out from a standstill. This is hard for him! He's still quite uncertain about it (understandably!) but he will make the effort and do it pretty well. Eventually, I'd like him to hop in and then back out on his own and quickly. One day, one day!

All in all, he had lots of fun and was eager for more, but I had him rest and let him call it a day for any "real" training. It's Friday after all, and maybe even dogs need an easy day once in a while.

A Jumping Good Time

Today, Wally spent the day jumping around. For some reason, Wally was really frisky and energetic right from the start. I guess he got a really good night of sleep or something. So after the obligatory morning "play ritual" (and it's funny how when I let him in, he's looking over at the bed where we play like "yeah, yeah, good morning and all that - let's get the game on!") I gave him his morning walk and started on the jumping.

Wally usually isn't all into jumping, especially if he can just simply walk or "high step" over it - or walk around it. Today, though, he was really into it and jumped with enthusiasm. I didn't think to get any treats, but he didn't need them, he was just jumping around with me egging him on. He didn't miss any opportunity to jump and over anything he that had some height on it.

Once we got back inside, we stayed with the jumping theme. I made a makeshift jump obstacle and had him jump over it a lot. This time I did get the treats out since he's a little less enthusiastic about jumping across it still. He did make the jumps though and got himself a lot of treats. Then I stuck a little retrieving in the mix with putting the dumbbell past the jump and then he had to jump over it to get it and bring it back.

I thought this would do it, but no, Wally still was all eager and alert. So I sat in my gamer chair and got some really enticing treats. I stuck my leg out and made him jump over it, then I teased him with the treat a little and lifted it way up. I wanted him to jump up to get it.

Did he ever! He was in a sit in front of the chair, and when I was all like "get it! get it!" and moving the treat around, he put his front paws on my legs jumped (or I guess I should say propelled) his hind end up into the chair in a perfect sit position! I don't know if he realized what he did but while I was a bit in shock at the move he just pulled, he was climbing all up on me to get the treat. I hurried up and gave it to him.

I cued him to jump off my lap - and then repeated the whole thing again. A couple times, he tried to climb into my lap (which he typically does) but I had my "slippery" jogging pants on so he had a hard time making progress, so he did the same leaping move again.

The third time, he seemed like he remembered (or realized?) what he did because he did it again. I would have kept going (this time, I wanted to keep going) but he was starting to get worn out and panting pretty hard since it was a pretty humid and warm day. I sent him to his bed in my room so he could get some water and rest.

It was quite a fun day for him with all the jumping. He looked like he was satisfied, like some kind of need was fulfilled. He still didn't really sleep so much - just sort of laid down and rested - his "real" nap came only after he got his dinner.