# Willow Is Acing Shaping Games!!



## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

Willow is really catching on to our shaping games. First game was to have her get into a box lid. That took maybe a week doing short daily lessons. Then I brought in the step we use to get into the RV, with the goal of her getting on top of the step. That took probably 10 - 15 minutes to get her to do it. Next I brought in a bigger box. The sides are probably 10 inches and when I flip it over it's sturdy for her to stand on. That only took a couple of minutes for her to either jump over the sides into the box or to stand on top when I flipped it over.

It's fun to watch her. She'll paw at it then look at me. I that doesn't get a response she'll nose it. Then maybe put one paw up on it and leave it there. You can just see the little wheels turning trying to figure out what she must do to get a click and treat.

Next game, I'm going to try and get her to circle the toilet plunger (it's clean - never been used!). I have a feeling she may try and knock it over though. We'll see how that goes.


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## boomana (Jul 9, 2015)

That's great! I haven't done much with shaping at all. I remember you mentioned that you had a book. What book are you using?


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

boomana said:


> That's great! I haven't done much with shaping at all. I remember you mentioned that you had a book. What book are you using?


It's called "When Pig's Fly". Here is the Amazon link: When Pigs Fly!: Training Success with Impossible Dogs: Jane Killion: 9781929242443: Amazon.com: Books


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Jackie from Concrete said:


> Willow is really catching on to our shaping games. First game was to have her get into a box lid. That took maybe a week doing short daily lessons. Then I brought in the step we use to get into the RV, with the goal of her getting on top of the step. That took probably 10 - 15 minutes to get her to do it. Next I brought in a bigger box. The sides are probably 10 inches and when I flip it over it's sturdy for her to stand on. That only took a couple of minutes for her to either jump over the sides into the box or to stand on top when I flipped it over.
> 
> It's fun to watch her. She'll paw at it then look at me. I that doesn't get a response she'll nose it. Then maybe put one paw up on it and leave it there. You can just see the little wheels turning trying to figure out what she must do to get a click and treat.
> 
> Next game, I'm going to try and get her to circle the toilet plunger (it's clean - never been used!). I have a feeling she may try and knock it over though. We'll see how that goes.


Awesome! The last thing you are going to try, we call "Fly", and use it for all KINDS of training games. It's also great as a reward during heeling practice, because they LOVE being sent to "fly" toward the pole. Ours are made of PVC pieces rather than a plunger, but that works fine too!


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## Laurmann2000 (Sep 12, 2015)

Wow, Wilow, that's great. She caught on so quickly. Good luck with the plunger and keep us posted.


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

krandall said:


> Awesome! The last thing you are going to try, we call "Fly", and use it for all KINDS of training games. It's also great as a reward during heeling practice, because they LOVE being sent to "fly" toward the pole. Ours are made of PVC pieces rather than a plunger, but that works fine too!


I haven't heard of Fly. I don't think it's in my book but I'll try to find some info online or a video.

The plunger was a tad more challenging but she started to go around it during the first lesson. I'll see if I can get her to improve upon it today.

I was so skeptical about clicker training but I can see her learning really quickly! It's fun.

My book says, after the shaping games, to work on her paying attention to me. The book instructs to keep a pocket of treats and the clicker with you all day and to keep an eye on the dog as you go about your daily routines. Every time you see her look at you, or a head turn in your direction, you click and treat. That's step one. Once they are starting to focus on you, you add step two which is distractions, such as someone in another room making noise or someone walking into the room you are in with the dog. There's about 6 different steps in the book to work on getting the dog to pay attention. We'll take this one slow as this is one of her faults. Ignoring me!


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## jabojenny (Sep 18, 2011)

Shaping is so much fun. I like to see how different Tim and Mae are when we work on that method. Tim seems to have more patience whereas Mae either has less patience but I think it's more of an attention span issue. I can almost see Tim's gears turning in his head when he tries to figure things out. Mae just does a bunch of different things then turns around to see if one of them was correct to get her treat. Just like my human kids my pups are very different. I used shaping to work with Tim on crate training and it worked great. I posted a video on the forum somewhere that showed me working with him but I don't know how to find it.


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