# Body Awareness



## ladyfreckles (Nov 10, 2011)

I'm trying to find some body awareness exercises for Viking (he's 9 weeks) and the instructions on how to do them. I've been using this site as a reference but she almost never leaves instructions on how to train a dog to do certain things. I don't care too much about the agility aspect but I want to help him with his coordination. It's probably hard to be a puppy and be growing so fast. Every day your butt is in a different place!

So here are some of the things I want to know about...

- Backing up
- The Perch
- Foot stomps
- figure 8s

In the future I'll move on to more advanced stuff but for now this is what I'm trying to cover. There's no rush. I don't care if it takes six months. I just think they're good exercises to do. 

The other article I've been using is this:
Full-Body Awareness in Agility

If anyone has any suggestions for things to do, video tutorials, etc, I'd love to see them. Again, I'm not worried about him learning this stuff overnight. I only do it for a few minutes at a time and I try to make it fun for him.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

Backing up is actually really easy to teach but i'm not sure i can effectively explain it without being able to demonstrate it. I'll see if I can find a video of how we do it and share it. If not i'll have Geramy record a video and i'll post it. Shasta is awkward with backup but she does do it. Backing up also teaches them to move their back feet independently and they exercise different muscles than going forward obviously.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

ACTUALLY... try looking up videos on how to create rear end awareness. Those should help you out with that in general too.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

this is the first time i heard of body awareness
exercises. i taught my dog to back up and do firgure 8's
and serpentines. to teach my dog to back up
i would place him against a wall. then i guided
back while saying "back up". i would place my left
hand on his chest and i would move close to him
so he couldn't swing out. then i would take
the coffee table and some chairs
a line them up next to the sofa. i blocked
off one end. i'm sitting on the sofa
at the far end. i would call my dog to me.
now he has to back to leave. as i was saying
"back up" i placed a hand on his chest for guidance.
there was no practice for figure 8's and serpentines. i would leash
my dog and start doing figure 8's and serpentines. i used
figure 8's and serpentines to teach heeling. i do
figure 8's and serpentines in all directions.


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

The biggest thing you need to keep remembering is that with such a young puppy you build slowly to get the end behavior you are looking at. In the meantime your sessions should be looking alot like the following video which LOOKS just like play but there's alot more going on.


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## ladyfreckles (Nov 10, 2011)

MaggieRoseLee said:


> The biggest thing you need to keep remembering is that with such a young puppy you build slowly to get the end behavior you are looking at. In the meantime your sessions should be looking alot like the following video which LOOKS just like play but there's alot more going on.


Thank-you! Yeah, from what I've read with puppies you're supposed to keep it slow, fun, and not worry about progress. As I said I don't care if it takes six months to a year I just want to work with him. I love working with him even if it's in short bits. 



> puppy tricks by Bi, 3 months - YouTube
> 
> Being Bi, puppy tricks - YouTube


Excellent, very helpful, thanks.


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## GatorDog (Aug 17, 2011)

I taught Aiden how to rotate on a touch pad to teach rear end awareness, and it's helped x1000 in his heeling when it comes to turns. I just use a rubber feed pail. First taught him to "touch" (which is super easy and Viking could probably do it at his age). Then I started baiting him with food and teaching him to leave his front feet on the touch pad and rotate with his back feet. Now he can go in circles like a circus dog!

But in all seriousness, I love that exercise. I still use it in his training all the time because it was so easy for him to learn, that it's almost confidence boosting when I ask him to do it at club. If I notice he's acting a little stressed, I'll send him over to the touch pad to do some circles. He loves it!


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## FG167 (Sep 22, 2010)

I've done this with both Eden and Kastle. Kastle started perch training around 9 weeks if I remember correctly. He is now learning how to back up stairs. If you click on either of their names in my signature, it links to their blogs and there are a ton of training videos on there. For Kastle, all the way to when I first got him and what I did each session etc.


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## ponyfarm (Apr 11, 2010)

FG167 said:


> I've done this with both Eden and Kastle. Kastle started perch training around 9 weeks if I remember correctly. He is now learning how to back up stairs. If you click on either of their names in my signature, it links to their blogs and there are a ton of training videos on there. For Kastle, all the way to when I first got him and what I did each session etc.


Awesome stuff on your blog. Very helpful to puppy owners. I 'heart' Kastle.!!


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## JayneA (Jun 11, 2002)

How did you guys teach your pups to rotate around a centre - the perch/elephant trick?

My pup will touch something with his front feet but I can't get him to rotate round after that?


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## FG167 (Sep 22, 2010)

JayneA said:


> How did you guys teach your pups to rotate around a centre - the perch/elephant trick?
> 
> My pup will touch something with his front feet but I can't get him to rotate round after that?


I lure. I keep the food hand right in their face and then either twist the hand so they follow (pivoting on their own) or walk into their side so that they have to move over - I mark/treat for one step at first. One direction will be easier than the other. I have also used dowels to move them but that dog had previously been taught on the flat with dowel awareness so it was a natural progression.


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## ladyfreckles (Nov 10, 2011)

I wish I hadn't stopped doing the body awareness work.  

A few friends kept making me feel guilty because he was too young etc etc so I held off. Now he's a lot bigger so my initial stool doesn't work anymore. 

Falon, what do you suggest for when he'll assume clicking and treating means he's done and he just gets off the perch after one step and I treat it?


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## ladyfreckles (Nov 10, 2011)

Ooh, he finally got it in this session. I stopped clicking until he went several steps, then clicked and treated. That worked much better. He got halfway around!


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## FG167 (Sep 22, 2010)

ladyfreckles said:


> Ooh, he finally got it in this session. I stopped clicking until he went several steps, then clicked and treated. That worked much better. He got halfway around!


Precisely  You ask for "more behavior" before the click/treat. They will usually offer something more to try to trigger the response of a treat. I also use a bridge word - good - to signal they are on the right track but they haven't completed the exercise yet. Hope that make sense!


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